DNA Fingerprinting

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markusg
DNA. It's what makes you unique. It's the stuff that tells each and every one of your body's 10 trillion cells what it's supposed to be and what it's supposed to do. And although your DNA is different from that of every other person in the world - unless you have an identical twin - it's the same in every cell that makes up your body. DNA is unique from person to person but the same from cell to cell in one person can be a handy thing, especially when it comes to DNA fingerprinting. DNA fingerprints can be used for anything from determining a biological mother or father to identifying the suspect of a crime. To find out more about how to take DNA fingerprints, keep reading - I found it very interesting and I'm sure you will too!

Steps to DNA Fingerprinting
1) Pour Restriction enzymes into the DNA. The enzymes work as scissors cutting the long DNA molecules at different locations. Where those ?scissors? cut depends on the code within the enzymes. The lengths of these fragments will vary from person to person because the code for every persons DNA is different. Some fragments will be long and others will be short.
2) Pour agarose gel into the tray. Agarose gel is a thick, porous, Jello like substance. It will act as a molecular strainer, allowing smaller pieces of DNA to move through more easily than bigger pieces.
3) Pour the fragmented DNA into the hole, or depression made in the agarose gel. The DNA fragments now lie within this hole in the agarose gel.
4) Begin Electrophoresis, the process of moving molecules with an electric current. The DNA fragments have a slight negative charge, so they move towards the trays positive end. (as with magnets, negative poles attract.) But the gel acts like a strainer. Smaller DNA fragments move through the gel more easily. This means that the shorter the DNA fragment, the farther the fragment is going to move to the tray?s opposite end. When electrophoresis is complete, the fragments are distributed in the gel according to their lengths.
5) Place nylon membrane on top of the gel. Because the agarose gel is hard to work with, the DNA is transferred to a thin layer of nylon. The membrane looks like a sheet of paper. The DNA was sucked up into the membrane as liquid traveled up from the gel toward an absorbent material that was placed over the membrane.
6) Add probes to the nylon membrane. The probes are pieces of DNA that have been radioactively labeled. The probes attach themselves to the DNA fragments on the nylon membrane. Excess probe ? all of the material that had not attached itself to the DNA fragment ? is washed away.
7) Place x- ray film on top of the nylon membrane. The radioactivity of the probes, which are now present at only a few locations on the nylon membrane, exposes corresponding areas on the x- ray film.
8) Put film in film developer. The film displays the locations on the nylon membrane where the probes attached themselves to the DNA fragments.


So there you have it! The steps to DNA fingerprinting (just like the professionals do it!) in an easy to understand format!p>


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    For more information DNA or DNA fingerprinting, simply use search engines such as "Yahoo". You can also look in Mirosoft Encarta or pretty much any Excyclopedia!o
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