Select all of the possible applications of DNA fingerprinting.

Question

a.Identifying the source of blood or tissue left at crime scenes 

b.identification of disaster victims

c.Tracking pathogens during investigation of an epidemic

d.Determining parentage

e.Replacing defective genes

f.Amplifying specific sequences of DNA. 

Answer 1

DNA finger printing is used for many applications including:

1.) Identification in forensics/crime scenes using biological samples like blood, body fluids, hair etc found in those areas and isolating the DNA from those samples, sequencing and looking for repetitive stretches of DNA (mini satellites) that are unique to each individual that will match and help identify the person making the offence.

2.) It is also used to identify parentage of child using paternity or maternity tests in family related court cases.

3.) It is used to identify our evolutionary ancestors and in paleontology. Example- It has been used to match Goatskin fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

4.) It is used to find biodiversity of crops.

5.) DNA fingerprinting is used to track populations of disaster victims.

Answer 2

A, B and D are all possible applications. This is because the main function of DNA fingerprinting is to match samples of DNA, however small, to their sources (e.g. match samples of blood, skin, semen, etc. to the person they came from by checking their genomes against a database of people's DNA). Because relatives share much more DNA that non-relatives, fingerprinting can also be used to trace a family tree.

This technique does not, however, allow for genes to be altered--that is where techniques like gene splicing come in. So you cannot use fingerprinting to replace or amplify particular genes (E and F). Furthermore, a disease that becomes an epidemic will by its nature not be determined by genetics (because genetic diseases cannot be "caught" from other people in the way that colds, flus, etc. can). So genetic techniques like DNA fingerprinting do not provide any help with tracking or preventing pathogens during an epidemic.