Fluorescent Random Amplified Microsatellites (F-RAMS) analysis of mushrooms as a forensic investigative tool

Beatrice Kallifatidis; Jan Borovička; Jana Stránská; Jiří Drábek; Deetta K Mills

doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2013.10.009

Fluorescent Random Amplified Microsatellites (F-RAMS) analysis of mushrooms as a forensic investigative tool

Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2014 Mar:9:25-32. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2013.10.009. Epub 2013 Nov 2.

Authors

Beatrice Kallifatidis¹, Jan Borovička², Jana Stránská³, Jiří Drábek³, Deetta K Mills⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, International Forensic Research Institute, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, United States.
² Nuclear Physics Institute, v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Řež 130, CZ-25068 Řež near Prague, Czech Republic.
³ Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry of Palacký University in Olomouc, Hněvotínská 5, CZ-77900 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, International Forensic Research Institute, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, United States; Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, United States. Electronic address: millsd@fiu.edu.

PMID: 24528576
DOI: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2013.10.009

Abstract

The capability of Fluorescent Random Amplified Microsatellites (F-RAMS) to profile hallucinogenic mushrooms to species and sub-species level was assessed. Fifteen samples of Amanita rubescens and 22 samples of other hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic mushrooms of the genera Amanita and Psilocybe were profiled using two fluorescently-labeled, 5'degenerate primers, 5'-6FAM-SpC3-DD (CCA)5 and 5'-6FAM-SpC3-DHB (CGA)5, which target different microsatellite repeat regions. Among the two primers, 5'-6FAM-SpC3-DHB (CGA)5 provided more reliable data for identification purposes, by grouping samples of the same species and clustering closely related species together in a dendrogram based on amplicon similarities. A high degree of intra-specific variation between the 15 A. rubescens samples was shown with both primers and the amplicons generated for all A. rubescens samples were organized into three classes of amplicons (discriminant, private, and marker) based on their individualizing potential.

Keywords: DNA profiling; Hallucinogenic mushrooms; Random Amplified Microsatellites.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amanita / genetics*
DNA Fingerprinting / methods
DNA Primers*
Fluorescence
Fluorescent Dyes*
Microsatellite Repeats*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Psilocybe / genetics*

Substances

DNA Primers
Fluorescent Dyes