Abstract
High-throughput DNA sequencing technologies have facilitated the in silico forensic analysis of human microbiome. Specific microbial species or communities obtained from the crime scene provide evidence of human contacts and their body fluids. The microbial community is influenced by geographic, ethnic, lifestyle, and environmental factors such as urbanization. An understanding of the effects of these external stressors on the human microbiome and determination of stable and changing elements are important in selecting appropriate targets for investigation. In this study, the Forensic Microbiome Database (FMD) (http://www.fmd.jcvi.org) containing the microbiome data of various locations in the human body in 35 countries was used. We focused on skin, saliva, vaginal fluid, and stool and found that the microbiome distribution differed according to the body part as well as the geographic location. In the case of skin samples, Staphylococcus species were higher than Corynebacterium species among Asians compared with Americans. Holdemanella and Fusobacterium were specific in the saliva of Koreans and Japanese populations. Lactobacillus was found in the vaginal fluids of individuals in all countries, whereas Serratia and Enterobacter were endemic to Bolivia and Congo, respectively. This study is the first attempt to collate and describe the observed variation in microbiomes from the forensic microbiome database. As additional microbiome databases are reported by studies worldwide, the diversity of the applications may exceed and expand beyond the initial identification of the host.
Highlights
Microorganisms are ubiquitous on all terrestrial and aquatic environments
In India, several studies reported a geographic variation in vaginal microbiomes (Garg et al, 2009; Pramanick et al, 2017; Das Purkayastha et al, 2019): L. jensenii in the southwest region; L. reuteri, L. fermentum, and L. salivarius in the central region; and L. crispatus, L. gasseri, and L. jensenii in south India
This review provides insight into the differences in microbiome diversity and abundance among different samples of forensic interest
Summary
Microorganisms are ubiquitous on all terrestrial and aquatic environments. Microbes have played an important role in medicine, fermentation, and food industry for millennia but have not generally been exploited in forensic medicine (Alan and Sarah, 2012). The present review shows descriptions of forensic indicator sites, including skin, vaginal fluid, stool, and saliva from populations in diverse geographical locations. Mashima et al (2019) analyzed the salivary microbiome in rural Thai children grouped into five clusters (east, west, south, north, and central) based on economic, food, and lifestyle factors and reported significant differences between Veillonella and Prevotella among the geographical regions (p < 0.05).
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