Terms, Concepts and Questions to Start Background Research

To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:

* DNA,
* polymorphism,
* DNA fingerprinting (also called DNA profile analysis and DNA typing),
* restriction enzyme,
* gel electrophoresis,
* restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).

More advanced students may also want to study the probability statistics of DNA matching as well as more recent methods used for DNA fingerprinting:

* allele multiplication rule (establishing statistical significance of DNA profile results),
* polymerase chain reaction (PCR, used for amplifying small amounts of DNA),
* short tandem repeats (STRs),
* capillary electrophoresis.

Questions

* What are some potential sources for error in crime scene DNA analysis?

For more advanced students:

* What are some of the drawbacks of RFLP-based DNA fingerprinting?
* What makes newer DNA fingerprinting techniques, such as STR analysis, more reliable than RFLP-based fingerprinting?