Microbes Solving Time-of-Death Enigmas

 By: Ashly M. Gutierrez

Figure 1. This image represents different viral families and the relationship between abundance and the amount of time taken for decomposition of rat cadavers.

Microbes play a significant role on a daily basis, at every corner, even in the decomposition of cadavers. This article, Yu 2025, proves that viruses are able to release nutrients and other components by being able to lyse or lysogenize the bacterial host. This helps accelerate the decomposition process by being able to understand the interactions among bacteria, viruses, and the nutrient cycle. A metagenomic analysis was performed to observe the viral succession over a 35-day period of the decomposition of rat cadavers which emphasized the abundance of microbes. The addition of different viral family biomarkers allowed the analysis to view the the PMI, postmortem interval, to identify and track changes in the microbial population towards the cadavers. The initial phase of decomposition demonstrated an increase in microbial abundance which may have been associated with the addition of resources produced by the cadavers. As more days went by the decline of microbial abundance was viewed to decline which may have been due to resources decline. Overall, being able to understand how microbes are able to decompose, act as a postmortem interval to specialized individuals that record decomposition, understand the components and resources required, and the relationship between viruses and bacterial hosts help have a better understanding for future and much larger projects instead of rat cadavers.

Original Article: Yu D. 2025. Viral community succession during cadaver decomposition and its potential for estimating postmortem intervals. Appl Environ Microbiol. doi:10.1128/aem.01453-25.