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Definition: Genetic Fingerprinting from Black's Medical Dictionary, 43rd Edition

This technique shows the relationships between individuals: for example, it can be used to prove maternity or paternity of a child. The procedure is also used in FORENSIC MEDICINE whereby any tissue left behind by a criminal at the scene of a crime can be compared genetically with the tissue of a suspect. DNA, the genetic material in living cells, can be extracted from blood, semen and other body tissues. The technique, pioneered in Britain in 1984, is now widely used.

DNA PROFILING

From Dictionary of Policing
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material of living organisms that determines each individual’s hereditary characteristics, and exact copies of this material are found in every living cell. A DNA profile comprises a set of highly polymorphic genetic markers that can be used to compare the origins of biological samples found at crime scenes with those taken from known individuals. The initial discovery of DNA-based methods for human individuation was made by Alec Jeffreys in 1985. It was first used to support a criminal investigation a year later when Jeffrey’s original techniques were used to compare DNA profiled from semen recovered from the bodies of Linda Mann and Dawn Ashworth who had been raped and murdered, in 1983 and 1986, respectively. Since then a series of technological innovations has meant that DNA profiling (known also as DNA fingerprinting and DNA typing), based on polymerase chain reaction amplifications of a varying number of short tandem repeat loci found at…
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Full text Article DNA and DNA Testing

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Gloved left hand holding a chemical “blueprint”...
The use of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) as forensic evidence has become a powerful and controversial issue in criminal law. The development of DNA profiling analysis, popularly known as DNA “fingerprinting,” has been hailed by law enforcement as a way to identify individuals from a small sample of…
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Full text Article DNA fingerprinting

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
or DNA profiling, any of several similar techniques for analyzing and comparing DNA from separate sources, used especially in law enforcement to identify suspects from hair, blood, semen, or other biological materials found at the scene of a violent crime. It depends on the fact that no two people, …
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Full text Article DNA Fingerprinting

From Brenner's Encyclopedia of Genetics
DNA Fingerprinting
Abstract DNA fingerprinting (also called DNA profiling or forensic genetics) is a technique that uses DNA analysis and comparison to resolve legal problems, such as paternity tests and inheritance matters, establish identity in criminal cases where biological evidence is found at crime scenes, and…
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Full text Article DNA fingerprinting

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Method developed by the British geneticist Alec Jeffreys (born 1950) in 1984 for isolating and making images of sequences of DNA . The procedure consists of obtaining a sample of cells containing DNA (e.g., from skin, blood, or hair), extracting the DNA, and purifying it. The DNA is then cut by…
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Full text Article DNA fingerprinting

From Collins Dictionary of Medicine
The recording of a pattern of bands on transparent film, corresponding to the unique sequence of regions in the DNA (core sequences) of an individual. DNA fragments, obtained from a DNA sample by cutting it with restriction enzymes, are separated on a sheet of gel by ELECTROPHORESIS . The fragments…
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Technique, developed in 1984, which makes use of the variable number of tandem nucleotide repeats in hypervariable microsatellite DNA sequences (see SATELLITE DNA ), there being strong similarities in these between relatives compared with a random outgroup. Using very small samples of DNA, these are…
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Full text Article DNA fingerprinting

From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin
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Full text Article DNA fingerprinting

From Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary
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A method used for TYPING . Essentially, chromosomal DNA, isolated from a culture of the given strain, is first cleaved by a RESTRICTION ENDONUCLEASE ; the fragments (of many different lengths) are then separated by gel electrophoresis into a series of bands—which are stained. The pattern of bands, …
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Full text Article DNA fingerprinting

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary
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