The Pros And Cons Of Mitochondrial DNA

This paper explores the history and some interesting facts about DNA. The last couple centuries have seen an exponential growth in our knowledge of DNA. The history of the DNA can be traced back to multiple devoted scientist. This article attempts to summarize, and review the basic history of DNA while providing some fascinating information about it.

III. Today I will discuss how DNA is tested, how reliable DNA evidence is, and contamination issues that could arise in DNA evidence.

Julie Beavers pointed out that DNA that was found on the body was that of an

The following results helped obtain the haplogroup that in which the sequence of mtDNA would identify. The PCR reaction worked, and this can be determined by looking at the agarose gel in figure 1. If the PCR reaction was successful, than a band should appear around 550bp. Individual AC displays a band around 550bp, this means the PCR reaction was successful. The band for individual AC, depicts a low concentration of product, because the band faint. After the purification process the concentration, A260/280 ratio, and A260/A230 ratio were determined by using the nanodrop. The concentration of mtDNA in the product was 60.9 ng/uL. The ratio for A260/280 was 1.79 and the ratio for A260/230 was 0.77. The A260 and 280 are a spectrometer measurement that measure absorbance at wavelengths of

DNA Profiling exists in blood, bone, hair follicles, saliva, semen, skin and sweat. They are the same in every cell and retain their distinctiveness throughout an individual’s lifetime.

After finding some skeletal remains, the police have provided a list of three missing persons, Kim Lee, Theresa Woods and Jonathan Parker. While spending multiple days in the lab, plenty of information was collected to help with the identification of the bones, such as the sex of the victim, the age of the victim and the approximate height and race of the victim. This data was compiled to draw a conclusion and safely identify the remains.

Disclaimer: I am not a DNA expert and am not going to pretend to be. I understand the basics of DNA testing for genealogy and

The specimens are not fossilized, but were reported in a Nature news article as having “the consistency of wet blotting paper” (once exposed, the bones had to be left to dry before they could be dug up). Researchers hope to discover preserved mitochondrial DNA to compare and contrast with samples from similarly unfossilized specimens of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens (www.en.wikipedia.org). Some are hoping to find a relationship between

Further confirmation was done by exhuming DeSalvo’s body, and collecting DNA samples from the teeth and hair of the person.

- Dna tests on the mitochondria genome are used to expose a common ancestry or a genealogical connection up to 10,000 years ago to today.

Two skeletons were uncovered at Deerwood Park, August 21, 2017, early in the morning on a marked trail. No IDs or identification were found on the pair when searched. The police have asked us, forensic anthropologists Dr. Doe and Dr. Smith from Oklahoma University, to identify one of these sets of remains. We were given the humerus, femur, cranium, mandible, and pelvis of the body to measure and examine to determine sex, ethnic origin, age, and height.

Every day DNA technology becomes more advanced and innovative, for example can match the smallest amounts of biological evidence to a criminal offender. Future DNA techniques will be applied to existing systems and testing methods that will become more automated and will be more effective and less time consuming. Instead of waiting months of DNA results the future will provide instantaneous means for DNA profile development.

The DNA found on the crime scene matches the one from suspect 3 through same number of cuts and size of the banded fragments which are both identical. This shows that two samples of DNA have identical restriction sites that produced identical patterns. When also calculating the number of base pairs of all samples, we find that there is a 97.76% match with Suspect 3's DNA with the crime scene DNA

Recent advancements in DNA technology have improved law enforcement’s ability to use DNA to solve old cases. Original forensic applications of DNA analysis were developed using a technology called restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Although very old cases (more than 10 years) may not have had RFLP analysis done, this kind of DNA testing may have been attempted on more recent unsolved cases. However, because RFLP analysis required a relatively large quantity of DNA, testing may not have been successful. Similarly, biological evidence deemed insufficient in size for testing may not have been previously submitted for testing. Also, if a biological sample was degraded by environmental factors such as dirt or mold, RFLP analysis may have been unsuccessful at yielding a result (Turman).

DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid, which is found in almost all living things. DNA serves as a code for the creation and maintenance of new cells within an organism. Within humans, it is found in almost every cell. Although most of our DNA is found within the nucleus of our cells as nuclear DNA, a very small amount of our DNA is also found within the mitochondria as mitochondrial DNA. Because mitochondrial DNA is generally not used for solving crimes, for the purpose of this paper it will be disregarded.