DNA Fingerprinting

Michael Jonathan Mr. Grant Donnan Science 10.2 10 September 2012 1341 Words

Jonathan 2 Table of Contents 1.1 Introduction 1.2. Concepts and Applications of DNA Fingerprinting 1.2.1 The Southern Blot Method 1.2.2 Hybridization Process 1.2.3 Applications of DNA Fingerprinting 1.2.3.1 VNTRs (Variable Number Tandem Repeats) 1.2.3.2 Paternity and Maternity tests 1.2.3.3 Criminal Cases 1.3 Impacts 1.4 Implications 1.4.1 Ethical 1.4.2 Economical 1.5 Conclusion

Jonathan 3 Michael Jonathan Mr. Grant Donnan Science 10.2 10 September 2012 DNA Fingerprinting 1.1 Introduction CSI: Crime Scene Investigationeveryone has watched, or at least heard of, this infamous show about crime scene investigators tracking down murderers through the use of sophisticated technology. Although most of the methodology has been heavily dramatized for television viewers, some techniques applied throughout the show are still true to the facts, including DNA Fingerprinting. Since its discovery in 1975 by one Dr. Southern, DNA Fingerprinting, especially the Southern Blot method, has helped forensic scientists to crack the most the mysterious murder cases, as well as geneticists in connecting familial lineage. Nevertheless, as with any modern technology, there are always implications involved. 1.2. Concepts and Applications of DNA Fingerprinting 1.2.1 The Southern Blot Method To begin, one must first understand the concept of DNA Fingerprintingmore specifically, the Southern Blot method. After DNA is isolated from the nucleus, it is cut to several pieces of varying lengths through the use of restriction enzymes, which cuts the DNA every time a specific nucleotide pattern occurs. Through a process called gel electrophoresis, which is a concept similar to polarization, DNA is sorted according to size. Since DNA is slightly negative, the pieces will be attracted to the positively-charged area and sorted according to sizein which the shorter pieces, which are able to move quicker than the bigger pieces, are located closer to the bottom than the bigger pieces. After that, through the use of heat or chemicaltreatment, DNA is denatured, where only one strand is selected from the double helix form of the DNA. Finally, the gel with denatured DNA is applied to nitrocellulose paper and baked to permanently attach the DNA to the sheet (Brinton and Lieberman, Southern Blot).

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The Southern Blot (bottom) as shown through this diagram. The Northern Blot (top) is very similar, but involves RNA instead of DNA and there is no denaturation process as RNA has only one strand (Wiser).

1.2.2 Hybridization Process After the blot is done, a probe is then created by inserting radioactive nucleotides into artificially-created nicks, or horizontal breaks within a strand of DNA, through the use of DNA Polymerase. The DNA is then denatured with heat, which not only separates the two strands of the double helix, but also separates the radioactive strands from the non-radioactive strands (Brinton and Lieberman, Making a Radioactive Probe). With the blot and probe ready, it is now possible to see whether or not the blot contains DNA sequences similar to the probe. The blot is placed in a plastic bag with the probe and saline liquid, consisting of salt and water, is added into the bag. When the bag is shaken, the radioactive probes will attach themselves to any matching complements on the blot (Brinton and Lieberman, Creating a Hybridization Reaction). The matches themselves do not have to be perfect, but the greater the similarity, the more hydrogen bonds it will produce with the blot (Brinton and Lieberman, Creating a Hybridization Reaction). To only allow matches with higher homologyor number of similaritiesto occur, either the temperature can be made higher or the salinity made lower

Jonathan 5 (Wiser). When this whole process, known as hybridization, is finished, and the blot is put up on X-ray, any areas with similarities will be clearly marked out in black. 1.2.3 Applications of DNA Fingerprinting 1.2.3.1 VNTRs (Variable Number Tandem Repeats) Within the DNA, there are two types of materialthe exons, which affect organismic development, and the introns, which carry no genetic information. However, this does not mean that introns are useless. In fact, they contain between twenty to one hundred repeated sequences of base pairs, known as VNTRs, which can be used to determine a number of things, including familial lineageswhether the child is really the child or not, and vice versaor for finding the culprit to a criminal case (Brinton and Lieberman, VNTRs). 1.2.3.2 Paternity and Maternity tests Since VNTRs are hereditary, they must come from either the father or mother, or a combination, but never from VNTRs his parents do not have. Thus, VNTRs, through the use of DNA Fingerprinting, can reveal whether a child is the true biological child of a couple. A probe, containing the VNTR in question, is scanned on a Southern Blot through the hybridization process. Once this is completed, the results are placed on a graph, side by side (Brinton and Lieberman, VNTRs).

For example, the above diagram shows the VNTRs possessed by Mom and Dad, the parents being investigated in this case. D denotes a daughter, while S denotes a son. Clearly, from the table above, Daughter-1 and Son-1 are biological children of Mom and Dad. Daughter-2 is the daughter of Mom and man other than Dad, while Son-2 is most likely an adopted son, since he does not share any VNTRs with Mom or Dad (Brinton and Lieberman, VNTRs).

Jonathan 6 1.2.3.3 Criminal Cases Also, because the VNTRs of a person are unique, unless he is an identical twin, it is possible to determine the culprit of a crime, especially a murder, through scanning one VNTR probe on several different blots, and comparing the results, as shown below (Lach and Patsis).

The description under the picture provides a clear explanation of how the above VNTR graph can be read. The more similarities that occur from the suspected area of contamination and the suspects blood sample, the higher the likelihood that the suspect is the culprit (Lach and Patsis).

1.3 Impacts DNA Fingerprinting has helped the world today in many different ways. Besides increasing the validity and accuracy of investigations as previously explained, DNA fingerprinting has also helped orphaned children in finding their biological family. When the military junta reigned in Argentina, it killed over 9000 people. Children made orphans from this massacre were given to military couples. After the regime fell in 1983, Las Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo, an Argentinian group whose goal is to reunite these orphaned children back with their families, used DNA Fingerprinting as their main method for investigation. Up to today, Las Abuelas has reunited over 200 children with their families (Gale).

Jonathan 7 Genetic Fingerprinting has even helped to solve historical ambiguities. On July 16 1918, The last Tzar of Russia, along with his family, were shot, doused with sulfuric acid, and buried in vast graves (Gale). Their bodies were never recovered since no one knows the exact location of the graves. However, in 1989, a mass grave was found containing skeletal shapes formations akin to what the Tzar and his family would have. Through DNA Fingerprinting, it is found that they were indeed the last royal family of Russia, and were given a proper burial in 1998 (Gale). 1.4 Implications 1.4.1 Ethical

Characteristics of some national databases (Norrgard).

As seen from the table above, European countries, such as the United Kingdom, Austria, Switzerland, and Slovenia, enter a suspects DNA into the database for any recordable offence (Norrgard). Especially in the UK, a suspects DNA sample is never removed, even for suspects. To some, this will seem highly unethical because it is likening a thief to a murderer, whose crimes are very different. This is true, especially in a scenario where the suspect has committed only a robbery, but is suspected two or three years later for murder because some of his VNTR

Jonathan 8 matches with the VNTRs of the murderer found at the crime scene. This would be defaming for the suspect, and since defamation is unethical, it would make this scenario very unethical. However, consider another scenario, where a man, who has no prior crimes, murders another man. When the DNA he leaves at the crime scene is searched for within the database, there will be no match, or worse, other men with similar VNTRs, who will be suspected for this murder. Thus, it would instead be also very ethical for everyones DNA to be in a DNA database so there are more possibilities for suspects. 1.4.2 Economical With the advent of DNA Fingerprinting, the prices for each court case have decreased. In the past, one court case averaged between 8000 and 10000 dollars for expert testimonials, while the price for one court case has significantly decreased to only about 1500 dollars per case, including DNA evidence (Davis). This is economically good for the world as it would allow more people to bring cases to court, including poorer people who might want to sue for murder but had previously owned insufficient money. However, the above scenario shows statistics only in more economically developed countries, MEDCs. This scenario would not work in a lower economically developed country, like Indonesia, because firstly, there are not many universities that offer Forensic Science in Indonesia, which means that costs for DNA Fingerprinting are still very high. They are so high, that the National Police have set up a priority system, with cases affecting national security bring first in the priority, including the Bali bombings (Putra). 1.5 Conclusion In conclusion, DNA Fingerprinting has successfully helped to solve not only criminal cases, but also cases on familial lineage and even historical ambiguities. Debates still ensue on the ethical and economical nature of DNA Fingerprinting. Recent studies show that in the future, it is very likely that DNA Fingerprints will be used as a genetic bar code for personal

Jonathan 9 identification (Brinton and Lieberman, Practical Applications of DNA Fingerprinting). With this in mind, there is surely a possibility that the money one has in a bank, the lock codes to ones house, and a myriad of other personal liabilities, will be compressed into one genetic barcode. The question is, will this increase the crime rate, especially in areas concerned with human death?

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Works Cited Brinton, Kate, and Kim-An Lieberman. "Creating a Hybridization Reaction." University of Washington. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://protist.biology.washington.edu/fingerprint/hybrid.html>. Brinton, Kate, and Kim-An Lieberman. "Making a Radioactive Probe." University of Washington. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://protist.biology.washington.edu/fingerprint/radi.html>. Brinton, Kate, and Kim-An Lieberman. "Practical Applications of DNA Fingerprinting." University of Washington. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://protist.biology.washington.edu/fingerprint/apps.html>. Brinton, Kate, and Kim-An Lieberman. "Southern Blot." University of Washington. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://protist.biology.washington.edu/fingerprint/blot.html>. Brinton, Kate, and Kim-An Lieberman. "VNTRs." University of Washington. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://protist.biology.washington.edu/fingerprint/vntrs.html>. Davis, Chelsi. "Economic Impact." DNA fingerprinting. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://drugdiscovery.webs.com/economicimpact.htm>. "DNA Forensics." Human Genome Project Information. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/forensics.shtml>. Gale, Thomson. "Genetics and Society: Impacts of Dna Fingerprinting Research & Articles." BookRags. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://www.bookrags.com/research/geneticsand-society-impacts-of-dna-wog/>. Lach, Christopher, and Thomas Patsis. DNA Fingerprinting. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 4 Sept. 2012 <http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-011306130417/unrestricted/IQP.pdf>. Norrgard, Karen. "Forensics, DNA Fingerprinting, and CODIS." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group. 04 Sept. 2012 <http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/forensics-dna-fingerprinting-and-codis736>.

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Putra, Sinly Evan. "DNA fingerprint, Metode Analisis Kejahatan pada Forensik." Chem-istry.org. 08 Sept. 2012 <http://www.chem-istry.org/artikel_kimia/berita/dna_fingerprint_metode_analisis_kejahatan_pada_forensi k/>. Wiser, Mark F. "Blotting and Hybridization." Tulane University. 4 Sept. 2012 <http://www.tulane.edu/~wiser/methods/handouts/pwpt/20_nablot_6.pdf>.