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Fungi tell dead men's tales

Jigsaw puzzle

Forensic jigsaw puzzle: fungi are helping scientists to estimate the time of death (Image: iStockphoto)

Deceased individuals supposedly 'push up daisies', but a new study suggests human cadavers are more likely to support several species of white and yellow fungi.

The study is the first to describe in detail species of fungi obtained from human corpses.

In the future, forensics experts may use the information during criminal investigations to determine when someone died.

Fungi, parasitic plants that lack chlorophyll, leaves and true roots and stems, often form part of the natural decomposition process that recycles nutrients back into the food chain.

"The fungi feed on the dead," says lead author Kiyoshi Ishii, whose team's findings are published in the May issue of the journal Legal Medicine.

Ishii, a biologist at Dokkyo University School of Medicine in Japan, and his colleagues analysed two humans whose bodies were found decomposing in very different environments.

The first was a corpse discovered lying face down on a concrete floor in an abandoned house.

Police determined the body belonged to a 72-year-old man who had been missing for 10 months.

The scientists observed yellow and white fungi on the deceased's chest, abdomen and thighs, but little insect infestation, probably because the house was dry and isolated.

The second case study involved skeletal remains clad in a shirt and pants found in a forest.

Forensics specialists determined the body belonged to a 50 to 60-year-old man who had died at least 6 months before the body's discovery. The scientists once again detected yellow and white fungi growing on the corpse.

Back in the lab

Ishii and his team collected the fungi and incubated them in a laboratory.

They identified several species including Gliocladium, a slimy counterpart to penicillin; Eurotium chevalieri, a fungus that can be bright yellow; and E. repens, which is commonly found in soil. The Eurotium species dominated the collected samples.

Ishii explains that the white and yellow colours are associated with the sexual stages for Eurotium fungi.

The parasite produces threadlike filaments that terminate with circular, colourful structures called ascomata that are involved in reproduction.

The fungi also produce colourful conidia, or asexual spores, which tend to form in the morning and germinate in the afternoon and evening.

Ishii says the environment in which a body lies, rather than the biochemistry of the individual or the manner of death, tends to dictate how much or how little fungi will colonise a cadaver.

Flies, beetles, fungi

Yuichi Chigusa, a medical parasitologist and entomologist at Dokkyo Medical University's School of Medicine, says that fly larvae usually infest corpses within an hour to a half-day after the victims' death. They are then followed by Coleoptera (beetles) and fungi.

He is excited about the potential of fungi for further aiding detective work.

"I am surprised that fungus is a potential tool for determining post mortem intervals in cadavers without infestation of dipteran larvae and/or beetles," Chigusa says.

"Therefore, I think it is very important that forensic pathologists, forensic entomologists and forensic mycologists cooperate in determining post mortem intervals during forensic analysis."

Tags: health, biology