Forensic Context

A study in humans demonstrated that the mir-205 is a saliva-specific microRNA marker, showing high expression in saliva and not in blood, which was sufficient to distinguish between these body fluids with significant differences in expression (p=0.00) [Omelia et al. DOI:10.1016/j.ab.2012.024]. In a separate review of human skin biology, the mir-205 was found to be downregulated 4 days post-burn in deep partial thickness burn skin compared to normal skin [Siu et al. DOI:10.1111/wrr.13100]. A study in humans established a stepwise strategy using Fisher’s discriminant function and the relative expression of multiple microRNAs, including the mir-205, to distinguish menstrual blood from peripheral blood with 100% accuracy on test samples [He et al. DOI:10.1007/s00414-019-02196-w]. Another study evaluating nucleic acid extraction methods for forensic saliva identification found that the mir-205 showed consistent Cq values across different extraction kits, indicating its robustness as a saliva-specific marker less sensitive to methodological variability [Singh et al. DOI:10.1007/s00414-025-03641-9].