For the most part, death is accompanied by the cessation of bodily function, but it was recently discovered that some genes continue to remain active to a degree.

For the most part, death is accompanied by the cessation of bodily function, but it was recently discovered that some genes continue to remain active to a degree. An international team of scientists led by Roderic Guigó from Barcelona's Center for Genomic Regulation focused on the mRNA sequencing data from material taken within 24 hours of death and samples collected prior to the donor's passing. "We found that many genes change expression over relatively short post-mortem intervals, in a largely tissue specific manner," Pedro G. Ferreira, one of the researchers, noted.
Why that is remains unclear, but Guigó explained, "I would guess that one of the major changes is due to the cessation of flow of blood, therefore I would say probably the main environmental change is hypoxia, the lack of oxygen, but I don't have the proof for this." Though study of the phenomenon is still in its nascent stages, the team does see promise for the use of post-mortem gene analysis in forensic science and, more specifically, for determining the time of death. Areas of research needing additional focus involve expanded post-mortem intervals, the age of the deceased, and causes of death.