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Elemental Signatures for Microbial Forensics

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Book cover Chemical and Physical Signatures for Microbial Forensics

Part of the book series: Infectious Disease ((ID))

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Abstract

Elemental signatures in microorganisms are influenced by the organism’s growth environment, postharvest modifications, and environmental exchange. It is clear that for organisms of the genus Bacillus, signatures from growth medium have the potential to remain robust for a long enough period of time to be useful from the standpoint of forensic investigation. Analogous to the compositional analysis of bullet lead (CABL), elemental signatures that are statistically indistinguishable between samples do not necessarily imply the samples have identical histories. Thus, the usefulness of elemental analyses lies in developing investigative leads and exonerating suspects rather than linking absolutely a suspect with a sample. More research is required in order to understand the ubiquity of useful signatures among types of organisms, the stability of individual signatures and the potential for overprinting by environmental influences.

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Acknowledgments

Portions of this research were conducted under the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of the US Department of Energy. A portion of the research described in the manuscript was performed at the W. R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research, located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the US Department of Energy, under contract DE-AC05-76RLO1830. Support from the National Science Foundation (DMR-0216639) for the TOF-SIMS instrumentation at the University of Oregon is gratefully acknowledged. The authors acknowledge the facilities, scientific and technical assistance of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, a facility funded by the University, State, and Commonwealth Governments. Bacillus samples were prepared by Nancy Valentine, and Tom Farmer conducted ICP-OES and ICP-MS analyses. Bacillus diagram in Fig. 6.1 was created by Jeremy Shaw.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

    John B. Cliff Ph.D.

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  1. John B. Cliff Ph.D.
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Correspondence to John B. Cliff Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, 6009, West Australia, Australia

    John B. Cliff

  2. Chemical and Biological Signature Scienc, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO Box 999, MS P7-50, Richland, 99352, Washington, USA

    Helen W. Kreuzer

  3. Department of Forensic Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1020 W. Main Street, Richmond, 23284, Virginia, USA

    Christopher J. Ehrhardt

  4. Chemical and Biological Signature Scienc, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO Box 999, MS P7-50, Richland, 99352, Washington, USA

    David S. Wunschel

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Cliff, J.B. (2012). Elemental Signatures for Microbial Forensics. In: Cliff, J., Kreuzer, H., Ehrhardt, C., Wunschel, D. (eds) Chemical and Physical Signatures for Microbial Forensics. Infectious Disease. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-219-3_6

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