Saliva is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In recent years saliva has been used to extract DNA from humans. In the given case scenario, saliva would have been the best way to extract DNA from the terrorists due to its ease of collection, its close relationship to plasma, and its safety in handling (Cianga et al., 2017). The DNA found in saliva originates from the inner lining of the mouth and white blood cells. Saliva can be detected in bite marks or lip prints that involve the oral cavity. A good example would be the use of glass, drinking straw, or bottle cans used since it would have lip prints that, in turn, will have saliva.
Salivary DNA is easily available; it does not require specialized collection. There are several methods for collecting saliva. One of the ways is using a used glass by the target person. Saliva deposited on glass, straw, or the suspects drinking can dry up. Therefore, for the saliva strains to be detected, various methods are to be used. One is the use of various chemicals, ultraviolent words, and fluorescent spectroscopy (Marotz et al., 2018). The only material required to collect saliva being a glass or drinking can. After collecting the evidence (drinking can), it is important to avoid the risk of contamination. Therefore, the personnel should be careful during the handling of evidence to prevent inadvertent contamination of evidence. Pending the chain of custody, the next step after ensuring there is no contamination, another step of step documentation will follow to confirm the integrity of the chain of custody is maintained, followed by transportation. Since its salivary DNA, it should be away from direct sunlight, and warmer conditions would degrade DNA (Cianga et al., 2017). Therefore, storing it in a cold environment ready for analysis at the CIA.
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References
Cianga, C., Constantinescu, D., Mihaila, C., & CIANGA, P. (2017). DNA
extraction from plain saliva: ADVANTAGES and limitations. The Medical-Surgical Journal , 121 (4), 752-762. Retrieved from https://www.revmedchir.ro/index.php/revmedchir/article/view/53.
Marotz, C. A., Sanders, J. G., Zuniga, C., Zaramela, L. S., Knight, R., & Zengler, K. (2018).
Improving saliva shotgun metagenomics by chemical host DNA depletion. Microbiome , 6 (1), 1-9. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-018-0426-3.
