DNA fingerprinting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

DNA fingerprinting - Research Paper Example For example, if a single DNA strand looks like this: A-A-C-T-G-A-T-A-G-G-T-C-T-A-G, then the strand of DNA bound to it can be this: T-T-G-A-C-T-A-T-C-C-A-G-A-T-C. the section of DNA can be together represented as follows: DNA fingerprinting is used in differentiating people. This is because the chemical structure of DNA of everyone is the same. The only distinctive feature between people or animals is the base pairs’ order. DNA of each person has many millions of base pairs, and everyone has a distinct sequence. Through the use of these sequences, every individual person can be solely identified by their base pairs’ sequence. The task is however time consuming due to the many millions of base pairs. Scientists have been able to do this through a shorter method due to the repeating patterns in DNA (Pena 97). The patterns however do not give fingerprint of individuals, but can determine whether two samples of DNA are from one individual, non-related people, or related persons. The sequences of DNA used by scientists are known to vary from person to person. This helps them in analysis for probability of a match. Maternity and Paternity: since individuals inherits his or her VNTRSs from the parents, its patterns can be used in the establishment of maternity or paternity of a person. The patterns are very specific, and a parental VNTR pattern can even be reconstructed if the VNTR pattern of the children is known. Analysis of parent to child VNTR pattern has been used widely in solving standard cases of father identification and even complicated cases of legal nationality confirmation, as well as in instances of biological parenthood and adoption. Criminal Identification and Forensics: DNA isolated from skin cells, hair, blood, or any other genetic evidence left at crime scene can be compared via patterns of VNTR, with the criminal suspect’s DNA in order to determine innocence or guilt.