Introduction

Any 2 given people share 99.9% of their DNA code. But the differences present in the remaining 0.01% of it are enough to enable reliable identification, with the exception of monozygotic twins. The DNA containing this is called variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) because they are just sequences of DNA repeated many times.

Aside from genes, or coding DNA, there are non-coding regions which repeat themselves many times over in each individual, with some sequences contained within varying. This variability is less in closely related individuals. This is where the usefulness of genetic fingerprinting comes in. This covers medicine, criminology and biodiversity conservation among other things.

Technique

1. The sample DNA undergoes PCR then cleavage at multiple sites with restriction endonucleases

2. The resulting many small fragments are tagged using a radioactive molecule

3. They’re separated using gel electrophoresis and viewed using a developed photographic…