Part I: The Doll
They never found her body, but they did find the doll.
Its porcelain head peeked out from the soil in the forest. Its right eye was missing and a few worms had burrowed into the vacant socket and made a quaint home inside. They thought that it might be the corpse at first, but soon realized it was only a doll. They dug it up and sent it away to be examined.
As I understood it back then: the doll possessed deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, that could be analyzed to match possible suspects whose DNA matched that found at the crime scene. Almost every cell in our body contains DNA. It is a hereditary material located in the nucleus. “The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine
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Most DNA is found inside the nucleus of a cell, where it forms the chromosomes. Chromosomes have proteins called histones that bind to DNA. DNA has two strands that twist into the shape of a spiral ladder called a helix. DNA is made up of four building blocks called nucleotides: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). The nucleotides attach to each other (A with T, and G with C) to form chemical bonds called base pairs, which connect the two DNA strands. Genes are short pieces of DNA that carry specific genetic information. …show more content…
This technique simultaneously detects lots of minisatellites in the genome to produce a pattern unique to an individual, or a DNA fingerprint.
Sir Alec Jefferys discovered DNA fingerprinting in 1984 after he realized that variations in human DNA could be detected in the form of short sequences of repetitive DNA (4). On average, 99.9% of human DNA is the same from person to person however; the 1% remaining is what makes each person unique. Although this seems like a small amount, there are approximately 3 million base pairs in these short, repetitive sequences that distinguish one person from another. DNA fingerprinting could be carried out using two possible methods: polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, and restriction fragment length polymorphism, or RFLP. To begin either method, DNA must be isolated from blood, semen, vaginal fluids, hair roots, skin, skeletal remains, or objects. In the process of PCR, small samples of DNA could be used because PCR utilizes DNA’s unique ability to make many copies of itself.
Like DNA replication within an organism, PCR requires a DNA polymerase enzyme that makes new strands of DNA, using existing strands as templates. The DNA polymerase typically used in PCR is called Taq polymerase, after the
(PCR), which isolates small fragments of DNA that have a high degree of variability from
Each person's DNA is unique . DNA biometrics technology is highly unique .The chance of two individuals having the exact same DNA is extremely impossible .Moreover ,DNA biometric technology impossible to fake because each person's DNA contains some unique trait from parents. DNA biometrics technology used in security systems but this technology is still new and it is hardly applied in public.[15]
1. This is a technique used to amplify a single copy or a few copies of a segment of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a DNA sequence. (Genetic Science)
The Australian Institute of Criminology has produced documentations explaining “the technique of ‘DNA identification’ compares the DNA of two bodily samples to ascertain whether or not they came from the same human being. Identity of DNA in the cells across both samples implies that the samples are derived from the same person (or identical twins); non-identity implies different human sources.”
DNA, Deoxyribonucleic Acid, is the basic structure for all life, it is the blueprint, the instruction manual, on how to build a living organism. DNA is made up of four nitrogen bases, adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine which are connected by sugar-phosphate bonds. Through a process called Protein Synthesis, the nitrogen bases are the code for the creation of amino acids. Essentially, DNA makes amino acids, amino acids make proteins, proteins make organisms. This process has been taking place for much longer than scientists have been able to document. Those scientists are called geneticists and their field is genetics.
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.
Law Enforcement keep notes on arrests that have founded people innocent of crimes, and retention of an innocent person's DNA can be charge or otherwise, seen as a invasion of that person’s privacy and civil liberties. Dr. Alec Jeffrey, a former professor at the University of Leicester laboratory, consulted with his lawyers to develop the new type of technique called DNA profiling. His technique would prove that DNA fingerprinting (profiling) can individualize evidence compared to the blood typing. DNA profiling compares 13 standard STRs to form a profile. The analysis used by the scientists, uses PCR and STRs to profile an individual. It is highly unlike that two individuals’ identical numbers of repeats for all 13 STRs, will match, which DNA fails is hardly never due to a successful match of 385 million to 1. This makes DNA profiling the most accurate tool in Forensics.
Before the 1980s, courts relied on testimony and eyewitness accounts as a main source of evidence. Notoriously unreliable, these techniques have since faded away to the stunning reliability of DNA forensics. In 1984, British geneticist Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester discovered an interesting new marker in the human genome. Most DNA information is the same in every human, but the junk code between genes is unique to every person. Junk DNA used for investigative purposes can be found in blood, saliva, perspiration, sexual fluid, skin tissue, bone marrow, dental pulp, and hair follicles (Butler, 2011). By analyzing this junk code, Jeffreys found certain sequences of 10 to 100 base pairs repeated multiple times. These tandem
code” that is unique to every person. Junk DNA in investigations can usually be found in saliva,
Finally, all the nucleotides are joined to form a complete polynucleotide chain using DNA polymerase. The two new DNA molecules form double helices.
DNA is a long curved structure, made up of pairs of four specific bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine, is the repository of a code from which all of our cells are made. The code is made up of base pairs which look like the
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).
With over three million base pairs in the human gene, forensic scientists are able to distinguish a person’s genetic makeup.
When the two had arrived to the antique, something had already caught the young girl’s eyes, a doll. A very pretty doll in fact, bright blue eyes, dark hair that flowed down past it legs, wearing a very eye catching dress, but something fascinated the girl other than those, it was the doll’s hand that held up two fingers, slightly stained with red.
I was five when I got the doll, not giving a care in the world to my surroundings. The doll was weird looking, almost terrifying to look at, but the doll looked to me interestingly enough to keep it and play with. She had a red top hot with a blue ribbon wrapped around it with midnight blue hair by the looks of it with light blue for her bangs, her hair in two ponytails in the upper back part of her head. Her left eye was stitched up and the right though liked like the kind that can be used for any emotion to speak of with the color of ice blue. She had a dress that covered her neck, her upper body and leggings for pants, on the feeling of the material. Her shoulders, forearm, and her nails painted black. Her shoes, just plain black with flat boots, able to take off and put back on. Doll also had pink spider earrings that was very detailed to the very inch.