Molecular insights of saliva in solving paternity dispute

Everyone is born with a unique genetic blueprint i.e. its own genome. Special locations called loci on different chromosomes display predictable inheritance patterns that could be used to determine biological relationships. These locations contain specific DNA sequences, called markers, which forensic scientists use as identifying marks for individuals. Saliva is a potentially useful source of genomic DNA for genetic studies. Paternity testing is based on the premise that we inherit half our DNA from our father and half from our mother. Therefore, persons who are biologically related must share similar DNA profile. Conversely, the absence of similarities in the DNA profiles of the child and the alleged father is used as proof that no biological relationship exists. In this paper, a female complained for being raped a year back by Mr. X and accused him of being father of her 3-months-old baby girl. DNA testing was done using saliva for the child and blood sample from the mother and the suspected father. The finding presented here allows the use of saliva as an alternative source of blood.