DNA Profiling Laboratory Methods

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Introduction:

DNA profiling can be described as a technique used by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals by their respective DNA profiles. They can be used to identify particularly anything from the environment (Everything, 2007).

Scientific and Technical Concepts Related to Profiling:

DNA is negatively charged. DNA is negatively because of the phosphate group that is in the nucleotide DNA that also has negative charge phosphate ions in its chemical backbone. DNA profiling is such that, it takes advantage of the variable number of tandem repeats in coding order regions of DNA. It is the non coding region that is mostly used to differentiate individuals. In such case, the DNA that codes for proteins happens to be the same except in the cases of mutations. The restriction enzymes are used to cut the DNA. By this, it means that the different enzymes recognize different sequences. With everyone's DNA non coding regions of DNA differing, the number and size of the resulting segments vary and thus yields different profiles. The polymerase chain reaction is also used to make a number of copies of the DNA sample. The replication is forced to happen as the sample is subjected to rapid heating and cooling in the presence on nucleotides and enzymes. Another concept is that the electrophoresis process uses electrical current to force the DNA segments to go through an agarose gel. An agarose gel serves as a molecular sieve that separates the segments depending on either the size, mass, charge or shape. Molecules that are smaller in size tend to move faster and therefore moves farther from the wells than larger molecules would do (DNA Profiling, n.d.).

How a Sample of DNA is Collected and Prepared for Study:

To start with, blood samples are collected from individuals whose DNA is to ...