The approach described here could provide independent confirmation of forensic results obtained using other methods (e.g., human DNA analysis or fingerprint analysis) and the approach might represent a valuable alternative to these more standard techniques under certain conditions and scenarios. For example, unless there is blood, tissue, semen, or saliva on an object, it is often difficult to obtain sufficient human DNA for forensic identification. However, given the abundance of bacterial cells on the skin surface and on shed epidermal cells (12), it may be easier to recover bacterial DNA than human DNA from touched surfaces (although additional studies are needed to confirm that this is actually true). Furthermore, the technique might be useful for identifying objects from which clear fingerprints cannot be obtained (e.g., fabrics, smudged surfaces, highly textured surfaces).