ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: proper detection and analysis of the biological evidence is a crucial matter for crime scene reconstruction and the most promising method for tissue determination is the analysis of differential DNA methylation patterns according to cell or tissue type. These patterns are chemically and biologically more stable thus representing a more reliable identification tool. Identification of semen and sperms are particularly important, especially in sexual assaults, where sperms are the source of DNA in the human ejaculate. In practice, sperms isolated from sexual assault evidence lose most of their distinctive sub-cellular organelles upon which morphological identification depends. AIM OF THE RESEARCH: to identify stability of the FGF7 marker in stored seminal specimens. MATERIAL and METHODS: 15 seminal specimens stored for over 10 years were used along with 5 fresh samples for FGF7 assessment. RESULTS and CONCLUSION: DNA methylation proved to be a stable marker for both fresh semen and stored semen samples.