Dna Profiling
DNA profiling is a method of identifying an individual by unique characteristics of their DNA. A specific DNA pattern, called a profile, is obtained from an individual or a sample of tissue. This allows the comparison of the base sequence of two or more DNA samples to determine whether they are related.
DNA profiling has many uses, in prevention of economic fraud, dietetic work, and classifying species, identifying bodies, forensic science, screening for disease, and investigating paternity. Most importantly DNA profiling is used in forensic science; used to identify who committed the crime. It is estimated that roughly one percent of all criminal cases employ this technique. However, DNA profiling has been used to acquit several suspects involved in serious crimes such as rape and murder and it has been used to convict individuals of crimes years after investigators closed the unsolved cases. On August the 5th 2003 an American policeman found a woman’s body near a highway, unidentifiable. Using DNA from her teeth bones and fingernails they compared it to the people who they suspected were her children. The tests came back and it was confirmed that there was a 99 percent chance that the body belonged to the children’s’ mother.
Classifying species is also an important use of DNA profiling. The growing databases of animal genes have given wildlife researchers and environmentalists a powerful new tool to identify new species and protect endangered animals. Scientists know the genetic profiles of some species so well they can tell the region or population they come from by examining the DNA of an individual animal. At the American university of Oregon a new spy craft technology has been established in an undercover operation to determine whether more whale meat is being sold in Japan and Korea than they admit to killing using DNA profiling. Both countries are only allowed to sell whale meat if it is caught in bycatch; this is where something is caught and
DNA profiling has many uses, in prevention of economic fraud, dietetic work, and classifying species, identifying bodies, forensic science, screening for disease, and investigating paternity. Most importantly DNA profiling is used in forensic science; used to identify who committed the crime. It is estimated that roughly one percent of all criminal cases employ this technique. However, DNA profiling has been used to acquit several suspects involved in serious crimes such as rape and murder and it has been used to convict individuals of crimes years after investigators closed the unsolved cases. On August the 5th 2003 an American policeman found a woman’s body near a highway, unidentifiable. Using DNA from her teeth bones and fingernails they compared it to the people who they suspected were her children. The tests came back and it was confirmed that there was a 99 percent chance that the body belonged to the children’s’ mother.
Classifying species is also an important use of DNA profiling. The growing databases of animal genes have given wildlife researchers and environmentalists a powerful new tool to identify new species and protect endangered animals. Scientists know the genetic profiles of some species so well they can tell the region or population they come from by examining the DNA of an individual animal. At the American university of Oregon a new spy craft technology has been established in an undercover operation to determine whether more whale meat is being sold in Japan and Korea than they admit to killing using DNA profiling. Both countries are only allowed to sell whale meat if it is caught in bycatch; this is where something is caught and