Genetics

Final chapter to 60-year-old blood group mystery

Researchers have solved a 60-year-old mystery by identifying a gene that can cause rejection, kidney failure and even death in some blood transfusion patients. In this study, published in Nature Genetics online 7 April, they ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Researchers develop a more sensitive, rapid at-home COVID-19 test

Caltech researchers have developed a new at-home test for COVID-19 that is more than twice as sensitive as current state-of-the-art antigen tests. While the test was developed for COVID-19, the technology can be used as a ...

Genetics

Study identifies novel genetic causes of male infertility

A recent study published in Nature Communications has identified novel genetic causes of non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), the most severe form of male infertility, findings that improve the characterization of the disorder ...

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DNA profiling

DNA profiling (also called DNA testing, DNA typing, or genetic fingerprinting) is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals on the basis of their respective DNA profiles. DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's DNA makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier. DNA profiling should not be confused with full genome sequencing.

Although 99.9% of human DNA sequences are the same in every person, enough of the DNA is different to distinguish one individual from another. DNA profiling uses repetitive ("repeat") sequences that are highly variable, called variable number tandem repeats (VNTR). VNTRs loci are very similar between closely related humans, but so variable that unrelated individuals are extremely unlikely to have the same VNTRs.

The DNA profiling technique was first reported in 1985 by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester in England, and is now the basis of several national DNA databases.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA