Académique Documents
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on Biomedical Science
DNA Fingerprinting:
A Method of Forensic
Identification
Fatchiyah, Ph.D
Dept. Biology, UB
1 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
Historical background
l DNA fingerprinting was developed in 1984
l by Alec. J. Jeffrey at the University of
Leicester
l He was studying the gene of myoglobin.
This is a picture of Alec. J. Jeffrey
2 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
What is DNA Fingerprinting?
l The chemical structure of everyone's DNA is the
same.
l The only difference between people (or any animal) is
the order of the base pairs.
l The information contained in DNA is determined
primarily by the sequence of letters along the zipper.
Structure of DNA
3 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
How do you figure out that someone’s
DNA is more similar to another’s?
l The primary method of assessing similarities
is by use of DNA fingerprinting or DNA
restriction analysis.
l This process makes use of special proteins
called restriction enzymes and sections of
the chromosome called tandem repeats
4 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
Why Fingerprinting?
l Using these sequences, every person could be
identified solely by the sequence of their base pairs
l there are so many millions of base pairs, the task
would be very timeconsuming
l Instead, scientists are able to use a shorter method,
because of repeating patterns in DNA.
l These patterns do not, however, give an individual
"fingerprint,"
l they are able to determine whether two DNA samples
are from the same person, related people, or non
related people.
5 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
Tandem Repeats
l A region of the chromosome that contains
multiple copies of a core DNA sequence that
are arranged in a repeating fashion
l Repeats act as fillers or spacers between
coded sections of DNA
l All humans have the same type of repeats
but there is tremendous variation in the
number of repeats that each of us has.
6 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
The different sequence
segments that vary
in size and
composition and
have no apparent
function are called
minisatellites
The different sequences is the same as the word "POST"
has a different meaning from "STOP" or "POTS," even
though they use the same letters. i
7 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
DNA Fingerprinting using VNTR's
l On some human chromosomes, a short sequence of
DNA has been repeated a number of times.
l the repeat number may vary from one to thirty
repeats
l these repeat regions are usually bounded by specific
restriction enzyme sites
l cut out the segment of the chromosome containing
this variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR's )
l identify the VNTR's for the DNA sequence of the
repeat.
8 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
Genetic fingerprinting
Each DNA profile is
unique!
9 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
Genetic fingerprinting
l Regions of
chromosomes that
code for proteins are
called introns.
l Other regions that are
noncoding are called
extrons.
l Extrons contain blocks
of repeated nucleotides
called short tandem
repeats (STRs)
l It is the number of
times that these STRs
are repeated that
produces the variations
in individuals.
l DNA is extracted from
sample.
l Cut into millions of
small fragments
l Using restriction
endonucleases
l Aimed at STRs
l Restriction enzymes cut DNA but only at a
certain combination of A, G, T, and C.
l Different restriction enzymes cut DNA at
different places—each has a unique
sequence it recognizes.
l The restriction enzyme EcoRI cuts DNA at
the sequence GAATTC and will cut only at
that sequence.
14 12/14/2007 Fatchiyah JBUB
Restriction Fragment Length
Polymorphisms (RFLP)
l RFLPs are different fragment lengths of base
pairs that result from cutting a DNA molecule
with a restriction enzyme
l It is the length differences associated with
DNA strands or RFLPs that allow one to
distinguish one person from another.
Recall: EcoR I cuts only at GAATTC
l EcoR I cuts a similar
section of DNA on Bob,
Larry, and Mary
l After the cut how many
fragments Bob, Larry,
and Mary have?
l Answer: 2, 3, and none
l After the DNA is cut with EcoR I, Bob’s, Larry’s and
Mary’s fragments are placed in different lanes on an
agarose gel
l The fragments are then subjected to an electric field
l The smaller fragments move faster, the larger ones
move slower
l This process of separating the fragments by length is
called electrophoresis.
l The bigger
fragments are near
the top
l In general the child’s
DNA must be a
combination of Mary’s
DNA and one of the
men. Which man is the
father?
l Answer: Larry
l DNA fragments are
separated by
electrophoresis
l (Fragments are
exposed to electric
current in a trough of
gel)
l Different fragments
move at different rates
through the gel.
l The smaller the
fragment – the faster it
moves.
l DNA is separated into
bands according to size
of the fragments.
l by placing the sheet on the gel
l and soaking them overnight.
l 45: Probing.
Adding radioactive or colored probes to the
nylon sheet produces a pattern called the DNA
fingerprint.
l The nylon sheet is placed
under Xray film.
l The radioactive probes on
the DNA fragments expose
the film.
l This produces visible pattern
of light and dark bands
which is unique to each
individual.
l 1.Paternity and Maternity
l person inherits his or her VNTRs from his or
her parents
l Parentchild VNTR pattern analysis has been
used to solve standard fatheridentification
cases Can someone tell me who is my father?
l DNA isolated from blood, hair, skin cells, or other
genetic evidence left at the scene of a crime can be
compared
l police labs around
the world have begun to use
DNA fingerprints to link suspects
to biological evidence –
blood or semen stains, hair,
or items of clothing
l The notion of using DNA fingerprints as a sort of
genetic bar code to identify individuals has been
discussed
l 4.Diagnosis of Inherited Disorders
l diagnose inherited disorders in both prenatal and
newborn babies
l These disorders may include cystic fibrosis,
hemophilia, Huntington's disease, familial
Alzheimer's, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, and
many others.
l By studying the DNA fingerprints of relatives who
have a history of some particular disorder
l identify DNA patterns associated with the disease
l 6.identification of Chinese medicine
l The Hong Kong Baptist University was able to use
DNA fingerprinting to identify the Chinese
medicine—Lingzhi in 2000
l In the early days of the use of
genetic fingerprinting as criminal
evidence, given a match that had a
1 in 5 million probability of occurring
by chance the lawyer would argue
that this meant that in a country
of say 60 million people there were 12 people
who would also match the profile.
l A. Population Genetics
l VNTRs, because they are results of genetic
inheritance
l it will vary depending on an individual's
genetic background
Good luck