Is DNA fingerprinting reliable?
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A common procedure for DNA fingerprinting is restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). A newer method known as short tandem repeats (STR) analyzes DNA segments for the number of repeats at 13 specific DNA sites. The chance of misidentification in this procedure is one in several billion. Yet another process, polymerase chain reaction , is used to produce multiple copies of segments from a very limited amount of DNA (as little as 50 molecules), enabling a DNA fingerprint to be made from a single hair. A nonmatch is conclusive, but the technique provides less certainty when a match occurs. First developed in the mid-1980s, DNA fingerprinting has been accepted in most courts in the United States, and has in several notable instances been used to exonerate or free persons convicted of crimes. DNA fingerprinting is generally regarded as a reliable forensic tool when properly done, but some scientists have called for wider sampling of human DNA to insure that the segments analyzed are indeed highly variable for all ethnic and racial groups.
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