Sunday, December 14, 2008

DNA Fingerprints !




The chemical structure of DNA in everyone is the same. The only difference is the order of the base pairs. Like in fingerprinting, there are so many millions of base pairs in everyone’s DNA that every person has a unique sequence.
Every person could be identified using the sequence of their base pairs. However, there are so many base pairs in every person that this would be very time consuming. Repeating patterns in DNA allow scientists to use a much shorter method.
These patterns help to determine if two DNA samples can from the same person, related people or non-related people. The sequences analyzed by the scientists are patterns that are known to vary greatly among individuals. This allows the scientist to assign a probability to a match. Since 1987, more than 150 cases have been decided with the assistance of DNA fingerprint evidence.
DNA base pair pattern identification has many uses. DNA patterns are inherited from parents, and can therefore be used to indicate paternity and maternity. They can be to confirm legal nationality and determine biological parenthood.
DNA analysis can be used to determine whether or not a suspect was at a crime scene. DNA can be found in blood, hair, skin cells, semen or other genetic evidence left at a crime scene. It can also be used to determine the identity of a victim.

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