What are the principles of DNA profiling?
Top The principle on which DNA profiling is based is relatively straightforward: a series of molecular biology techniques is used to determine the sizes of discrete DNA fragments that contain hypervariable target sequences. Because molecular biology is a new discipline with technical possibilities that are still expanding, it is hardly surprising that a variety of ‘standard’ techniques are used at each step in DNA profiling. The analysis principles, however, remain constant. They include: • collecting samples from the scene of a crime and from victims and suspects; • extracting and purifying DNA from all the samples; • cutting the DNA into fragments (with a ‘restriction enzyme’); • visualising the fragments; • analysing the resulting bank patterns by computer. DNA profiling is a complicated process. As already mentioned, each sequential step involved in generating a DNA profile can be carried out in a variety of ways.
The principle on which DNA profiling is based is relatively straightforward: a series of molecular biology techniques is used to determine the sizes of discrete DNA fragments that contain hypervariable target sequences. Because molecular biology is a new discipline with technical possibilities that are still expanding, it is hardly surprising that a variety of ‘standard’ techniques are used at each step in DNA profiling. The analysis principles, however, remain constant. They include: • collecting samples from the scene of a crime and from victims and suspects; • extracting and purifying DNA from all the samples; • cutting the DNA into fragments (with a ‘restriction enzyme’); • visualising the fragments; • analysing the resulting bank patterns by computer. DNA profiling is a complicated process. As already mentioned, each sequential step involved in generating a DNA profile can be carried out in a variety of ways. Although they are all straightforward, and factors affecting them have b
