Present and foreseeable future of metabolomics in forensic analysis

•The precariousness of forensic science worldwide has promoted its urgent improvement.•The features of metabolomics make this omics a useful tool in forensic analysis.•Examples of usefulness of metabolomics in forensic analysis are critically discussed.•The pillars to support the future of metabolomics–forensic analysis are established.

The revulsive publications during the last years on the precariousness of forensic sciences worldwide have promoted the move of major steps towards improvement of this science. One of the steps (viz. a higher involvement of metabolomics in the new era of forensic analysis) deserves to be discussed under different angles. Thus, the characteristics of metabolomics that make it a useful tool in forensic analysis, the aspects in which this omics is so far implicit, but not mentioned in forensic analyses, and how typical forensic parameters such as the post-mortem interval or fingerprints take benefits from metabolomics are critically discussed in this review. The way in which the metabolomics–forensic binomial succeeds when either conventional or less frequent samples are used is highlighted here. Finally, the pillars that should support future developments involving metabolomics and forensic analysis, and the research required for a fruitful in-depth involvement of metabolomics in forensic analysis are critically discussed.

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