Bacteria transferred during intercourse could help identify sexual assault perpetrators, scientists say | Science

An Australian study indicates that bacteria transported between people during sexual intercourse can be used in a forensic test to help identify the perpetrators of sexual assault.

Genital bacteria, similar to microorganisms that make up the intestine microbiome, differ between individuals. They were transferred to sexual partners during sexual intercourse and they leave specific signatures that can be discovered later.

The main supervisor of the study, Dr. Brendan Chapman, from Murdoch University, said that the technology of the individual’s microbium tracking – or sex, as the researchers described – can be used in the end in cases of sexual assault where no sperm was discovered.

In Australia, 97 % of male sexual assault perpetratorswhile One in five women More than 15 witnessed sexual assault.

“If there is no ejaculation, the barrier or the amazing male barrier … this is the place where this becomes really important as a possible second approach,” Chapman said.

The researchers entered a bacterial gene known as the 16s RRNA, not present in humans. Its genetic serials differ in the bacteria on different people.

The genital floods of 12 couples of two different sexes before sexual intercourse and after sexual intercourse showed that the bacterial person’s signature on his partner can be identified after sex.

The signature was still being transferred even when the condom was used during sexual intercourse, although most of the transfer was in these cases of females to the male partner. Chapman noted, however, unknown factors such as the timing of a condom front during intimate relationship.

Point hair, oral sexual intercourse, circumcision or lubricating oils does not seem to affect the transfer of bacteria. The study indicated that the male personal hygiene after intercourse was a factor that might affect the tracking.

In one of the spouses, the signing of the bacteria seemed to continue for five days after being transferred between the partners, as Chapman said.

The researchers suggested that the technology can increase the window for testing after sexual assault “exceeding what is currently possible” with the analysis of traditional DNA, where the possibility of sperm detection is higher in the first 24 hours after the attack.

However, Chapman said that the technology “is still far from using it in the courtroom,” noting the need for the ingenuity of the unique bacterial signatures that can be discovered. The research team also expressed better understanding of sex in the absence of sexual intercourse, as well as how it changed through the female menstrual cycle.

Dennis McKinven, a professor of criminal genetics at the University of Sydney, who did not participate in the study, said that bacterial genetic stereotypes can be used to confirm or oppose the certificate in alleged sexual assault situations where other evidence of DNA was unnecessary or insufficient.

He said, “DNA will always be the first port of communication.” The bacterial tracking is described as the last resort because it “will take more time, it’s more expensive – it’s boutique analysis.”

The paper was published in the magazine Iscience.