This document provides an overview of DNA profiling and fingerprinting. It discusses how DNA was discovered to have a double helix structure, and how DNA fingerprinting works by analyzing variable regions of DNA to generate unique profiles. The document outlines the stages of DNA fingerprinting, from extracting DNA to generating bands patterns, and discusses applications like solving crimes, paternity testing, and identifying medical conditions. It provides an example of how DNA profiling can eliminate a suspect or link them to a crime scene.

1. DNA PROFILING (DNA
FINGERPRINTING)

2. CONTENTS
Introduction
Definition
Stages of DNA Fingerprinting
Application
Materials
Examples

3. WHAT IS DNA?
In 1953 James Watson & Francis Crick
discovered the structure
Deoxyribonucleic Acid – DNA.
It is found in the nucleus of all living cells, with the exception of
Red Blood Cells.
Double Helix
Structure

4. WHAT IS DNA?
 A person has 46 chromosomes, over 100,000 genes, 3
billion bases of DNA.
 Each leg of the ladder in the double helix consists of
alternating sugar and phosphate units.
 There are four nucleotides bases:
 Adenine , Guanine, Thymine , Cytosine

5. WHAT IS DNA PROFILING?
A technique used by scientists to distinguish between individuals
of the same species using only sample of their DNA. The only
difference between people is the order of the base pairs.
Most DNA is highly conservative from one person to the next
A few small domains (0.1%) are very variable.

6. WHAT IS DNA FINGERPRINTING?
In 1985 an English geneticist, Alec Jeffreys, was studying
inherited variation within genes and among individuals.
He studied a genetic peculiarity known as the intron. Introns
are sequences of “junk” DNA that do not code for a specific
protein.
He noticed that some introns are made up of the same DNA
base pair sequences and that the number of repetitions varies
from person to person.

7. STAGES OF DNA FINGERPRINTING
Stage 1:
 Cells are broken down to release DNA If only a small
amount of DNA is available it can be amplified using the
polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

8. STAGES OF DNA FINGERPRINTING
Stage 2:
The DNA is cut into fragments using restriction enzymes.
Each restriction enzyme cuts DNA at a specific base sequence.

9. STAGES OF DNA FINGERPRINTING
The sections of DNA that are cut out are called restriction
fragments.
This yields thousands of restriction fragments of all different
sizes because the base sequences being cut may be far apart
(long fragment) or close together (short fragment).

10. STAGES OF DNA FINGERPRINTING
Stage 3:
 Fragments are separated on the basis of size using a process
called gel electrophoresis.
 DNA fragments are injected into wells injected into wells and
an electric current is applied along the gel.

11. STAGES OF DNA FINGERPRINTING
DNA is negatively charged so it is attracted to the positive end of
the gel. The shorter DNA fragments move faster than the longer
fragments. DNA is separated on basis of size.
A radioactive material is added which combines with the
DNA fragments to produce a fluorescent image.
 A photographic copy of the DNA bands is obtained.

12. STAGES OF DNA FINGERPRINTING
Stage 4:
 The pattern of fragment distribution is then analysed.

13. USES OF DNA PROFILNG
Crime scene investigations
Paternity suites and family relationships
Archaeology
Human/family ancestry
Exonerate persons wrongly accused of crimes
Identify catastrophe victims
Identify endangered and protected species as an aid to wildlife officials (could
be used for prosecuting poachers)
Detect bacteria and other organisms that may pollute air, water, soil, and food
Match organ donors with recipients in transplant programs
Determine pedigree for seed or livestock breeds

14. CRIME
Forensic science is the use of scientific knowledge in legal
situations.
The DNA profile of each individual is highly specific.
The chances of two people having exactly the same DNA
profile is 30,000 million to 1 (except for identical twins).

15. BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS USED FOR
DNA PROFILING
Blood
Hair
Saliva
Semen
Body tissue cells

16. DNA PROFILING CAN SOLVE CRIMES
The pattern of the DNA profile is then compared with those of
the victim and the suspect.
 If the profile matches the suspect it provides strong evidence
that the suspect was present at the crime scene it does not prove
they committed the crime).
 If the profile doesn’t match the suspect then that suspect may
be eliminated from then the enquiry.

17. EXAMPLE
A violent murder occurred.
The forensics team retrieved a blood sample from the crime
scene.
 They prepared DNA profiles of the blood sample, the victim and
a suspect as follows:

19. EXAMPLE
A Paternity Test Example:
By comparing the DNA profile of a mother and her child it is
possible to identify DNA fragments in the child which are absent
from the mother and must therefore have been inherited from the
biological father.

21. SOLVING MEDICAL PROBLEMS
DNA profiles can be used to determine whether a particular person
is the parent of a child. A child's paternity (father) and
maternity(mother) can be determined. This information can be used
in:
Paternity suits
Inheritance cases
Immigration cases

22. PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION
The notion of using DNA fingerprints as a sort of genetic bar
code to identify individuals has been discussed.
Diagnosis of Inherited Disorder in both prenatal and newborn
babies These disorders may include cystic fibrosis, hemophilia,
Huntington's disease, familial hemophilia , Alzheimer's, sickle cell
anemia, thalassemia, and many others.

23. DNA FINGERPRINTING USING VNTR'S
On some human chromosomes, a short sequence of DNA has
been repeated a number of times.
the repeat number may vary from one to thirty repeats
these repeat regions are usually bounded by specific restriction
enzyme sites. cut out the segment of the chromosome containing
this variable number of tandem repeats ((VNTrs).
identify the VNTR's for the DNA sequence of the repeat.

24. FAMOUS CASES
Colin Pitchfork was the first criminal caught based on DNA
fingerprinting evidence.
 He was arrested in 1986 for the rape and murder of two girls and
was sentenced in 1988.