Abstract
We collected and identified beetles belonging to different species of Coleoptera that are of forensic importance in India by employing cytochrome oxidase subunit II. An attempt was made to create a molecular database of the reference sequences, as most of the studied species were not available in online databases. Sequences obtained from the present work will contribute to the creation of a national database, allowing for an increase in the knowledge of Coleoptera species of forensic interest. The foremost concern in forensic entomology is the explicit identification of the species recovered from the crime scene. From the different orders of insects, Diptera is the prime focus in this field, followed by Coleoptera, whose identification can be extremely helpful for corpses in later decomposition stages. In this study, cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII) was used to check its adequacy as a genetic marker and to create a reference database for eleven species belonging to five families of Coleoptera, namely, Silphidae, Staphylinidae, Histeridae, Dermestidae and Scarabaeidae, from two different states in India to assist in the accurate identification of imperative beetle species in medico-legal entomology. To achieve this, standard protocols of DNA isolation, amplification and sequencing were followed. We concluded that the COII gene can be used as a molecular marker for the identification of forensically relevant species, as observed from the similarities between the phylogenetic relationship constructed by COII and morphological data.