Salivary signature in forensic profiling: A scoping review

BACKGROUND: Saliva has recently served as a primary investigative tool in forensics in the detection of crime, cases of sexual assaults, human and animal bite marks, poisoning, hormone identification, and alcohol and drug abuse. AIM: This scoping review aimed to comprehensively identify the role of saliva in comparative and reconstructive identification and propose the concept of salivary signature (SS) in forensics. METHODOLOGY: A literature search was performed on electronic databases, PubMed and Google Scholar with keywords, “salivary,” “microbiome,” and “forensics,” and relevant articles identified along with reference tracking. RESULTS: SS model was based on salivary microbiome and biomarkers which together provide pertinent information about lifestyle, behavioral patterns, circadian rhythms, geolocation, cohabitation of individuals, postmortem intervals, systemic and oral ailments or cancers besides salivary flow and composition. CONCLUSIONS: This communication highlights the constituents of SS and their significance in forensics. It also enumerates factors altering SS, limitations owing to diversity in microbiome and biomarker status, and possible measures to improve its accuracy and robustness in forensics.