Trick or Treating in Forensics—The Challenge of the Saliva Microbiome: A Narrative Review

Abstract

The oral microbiome harbours microbial community signatures that differ among individuals, highlighting that it could be highly individualizing and potentially unique to each individual. Therefore, the oral microbial traces collected in crime scenes could produce investigative leads. This narrative review will describe the current state-of-the-art of how the salivary microbiome could be exploited as a genetic signature to make inferences in the forensic field. This review has been performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Guidelines. Even if further studies are needed to relate the variation in the oral microbiome to specific factors, in order to understand how the salivary microbiome is influenced by an individual’s lifestyle, by reviewing the studies published so far, it is clear that the oral microbial analysis could become a useful forensic tool. Even if promising, caution is required in interpreting the results and an effort to direct research towards studies that fill the current knowledge gaps is certainly useful.