Age estimation by telomere length by Rt PCR method in south Delhi Random Population-a pilot study

Crime and criminal are two things in today's forensic world,how the crime happened and whocommitted it. Forensic science revolves around these two things. In forensic science, identification is one of the parameters which helps to solve the case;in this aspect molecular techniqueplays an important role in area to find the identity of the criminal/suspect and other parameters like age, sex etc. Finding age of the person by biological technique plays an important role as it has forensic significance. One of the techniques is telomere length measurement by RT-PCR method which helps us to evaluate the age with a small amount of sample foundat the crime scene. RT-PCR method is fast, simpleand has high throughput. Relative telomere length can be measured with the help of quantitative RT-PCR method. We have conducted a pilot study on 25 individuals from which we have taken peripheral blood samples individual were chosen by random sampling methodfrom South Delhi of varying age from16-55 years irrespective of male and female and those who were free from chronic disease. The results observed from the quantitative method suggested that telomere length decreases with the increase in age; “r” = - 0.94(p=3.78e-12). The age of the criminal/suspect can be calculated with the help of formula: Y=59.101 + (−13.973) X;(where Y=age and X=relative telomere length) regression coefficient R2 = 0.8818 and standard error for age estimation is±4.899. With the outcome from these results, age can be estimated from relative telomere length using quantitative RT-PCRmethod. It is very useful from forensic point of view but before using it in forensic cases large scale study is required as it is essential to gather more data so that it can be used in forensic cases.