DNA Dude Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys and DNA Fingerprinting
Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys, who discovered how to create DNA fingerprints, has been named a 2006 Great Briton. The Telegraph has a profile of Prof Jeffreys that details the early days of DNA analysis for use in establishing family relationships and criminal activity. He apparently got his nickname, “the DNA Dude,” from a surfer kid who recognized him. His group is now studying genetic mutations related to the Chernobyl nuclear explosion.
Here’s a very basic description of how DNA fingerprints were first created using restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP):
- Extract a sample of DNA from blood, hair, skin, cheek cells, etc.
- Use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to create more copies of the DNA to analyze.
- Use restriction enzymes to cut the DNA strand at specific sequences, which will result in pieces of DNA of varying sizes. Since each person’s DNA unique, the enzymes will cut the DNA in different places and varying sizes of DNA pieces will result.
- The small pieces of DNA will be passed through an agarose gel which separates them according to size.
- Compare the DNA patterns created.
The newer methods of PCR-based DNA fingerprinting requires less DNA for analysis.
For more information, you can watch a video of Prof Jeffreys talking about DNA fingerprinting at DNA Interactive. There’s also lots more at TheTech and The Human Genome created by The Wellcome Trust, parts 1, 2, and 3.
Tags: rflp, dna fingerprinting, dna fingerprint, alec jeffreys, forensics, genetics, genes, dna, diseases, illness, health
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Check out what others are saying about this post...[...] In a couple of interviews I did recently, I mentioned my sixth grade science fair project that was called something like Heredity, Genetics, and You. Back in 1983, the Human Genome Project hadn’t been launched yet and it was the year Kary Mullis invented PCR (according to the Genome News Network, although other sources point to 1980). My elementary school didn’t have much of a science education curriculum let alone labs where we could try to extract DNA or practice RFLP DNA fingerprinting. So I was left to my own devices without even the Internet to help me do research! *GASP* [...]