The Ethical Use Of DNA Fingerprinting In Forensic

DNA, otherwise known as Deoxyribonucleic acid, is a fundamental part of our body, providing genetical information to cells, determining our genetic genotypes and visible phenotype characteristics. It also has other uses, such as DNA Fingerprinting. This technique requires a sample of cells, that, through a scientific process, produce a unique pattern to determine a person by. DNA fingerprinting is used in paternity testing, to determine a child’s father, and in forensics and crime solving. The science behind DNA fingerprinting in forensics, and moral dilemmas surrounding it, will be explored and explained.

DNA fingerprinting requires a sample of cells. For example, a drop of blood left on a crime scene by the assumed culprit. From these cells, DNA is extracted and cut into smaller pieces using ‘restriction enzymes.’ These restriction enzymes are proteins that, when removed from the bacterial cell they grow on, are used to cut DNA. Once the DNA has been cropped into some thousand smaller pieces of varying length, the pieces are put in a gel, in one pile.

An electric current is passed through the gel, is one side carrying a positive charge and the other side carrying a negative charge. DNA, being negatively charged, works like a magnet, and moves toward the positively charged electric end of the gel. In a magnet, opposites attract, so the negatively charged DNA moves to the positively charged electric current. However, the smaller pieces of DNA move faster, so when the electricity is quickly turned off, the shorter parts have moved to the positively charged end, the larger parts have stayed where they are, and the middle pieces are in-between. Hence, the DNA pieces are sorted per