Our DNA fingerprints and the science of genetic fingerprinting
Posted on | July 27, 2010 | No Comments
DNA fingerprints an accurate science that can help discriminate between people and determine whether biological relationships exist. DNA, or deoxyribose nucleic acid, is what encodes all the information necessary for life. Humans share around 98% of their DNA and thus, the other 2% is a major distinguishing factor between the genetic material from one person to the next.
DNA fingerprinting (sometime referred to as DNA profiling and more commonly simply as DNA testing) finds use in paternity DNA testing and relationship tests. Criminal investigations in which DNA analysis can help link the crime to the perpetrator also rely on genetic fingerprinting. The term fingerprinting, of course draws upon traditional methods of identification using the prints from our fingers. The ridges and contours on our finger tips are unique and a reliable means of identifying a person; however, in cases of criminal investigations, a fingerprint can be unreliable unless one is able to have prints from all ten fingers.
DNA fingerprinting by far outshines actual fingerprinting from our fingertips. Analyzing specific repeats on a DNA sequence allows for extremely precise identification of individuals. Moreover, the issue of heredity means that parents and children as well as relatives will share certain repeats which make it possible to determine whether people are truly related or not; thus, we can carry out paternity tests and relationship DNA tests with a high rate of success. This is of course something that fingerprints cannot do as our fingerprint patterns are not entirely determined by our genes but rather are formed during gestation.
In forensic DNA analysis DNA finger printing is an indispensable tool. DNA can be found in a single hair (assuming there is the root), a nail, a piece of skin, a tissue left at the crime scene and a host of other samples which could all potentially be very valuable DNA sources. It can identify criminals but also corpses that have deteriorated beyond any possible physical recognition.
It is important to understand however, that although DNA is very reliable, it works in terms of probability. Scientists cannot be absolute and say that a particular DNA profile belongs exclusively and solely to one individual. It will, nevertheless, establish the probability that DNA sample X belongs to person Y with such high probabilities that one is left without shadow of a doubt that the DNA sample belongs to that person. Using DNA fingerprints is indeed outstandingly reliable.
Tags: deoxyribose nucleic acid > DNA fingerprinting > DNA fingerprints > DNA profiling > DNA testing > fingerprints > genetic fingerprinting > paternity test > relationship DNA test
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