How DNA Profiling Meets the Definition of Biotechnology - Free Paper

Introduction

DNA profiling is a biotechnological process that involves the extraction of a DNA profile, usually referred to as a DNA pattern from a body tissue for purposes that are meant to solve problems to improve human life. The reason why DNA profiling is a recognized subset of biotechnology is that it uses patterns obtained from living tissue to facilitate a process that improves human life. The complex process of DNA profiling has many applications that improve the lives of human beings in numerous ways.

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How the Process Is Performed

The process of DNA profiling usually involves, firstly generating a sample of DNA that is found within numerous body cells such as semen, body tissue, and white blood cells to mention a few. DNA samples can also be detected from body fluids saliva and perspiration since they contain epithelial cells. Law enforcers and forensic scientists obtain DNA from crime scenes. After this, the DNA is extracted from the samples obtained by the addition of chemicals to break open the cells since DNA is within the enclosure of the nucleus of cells (Alamoudi et al., 2020). Extracted DNA is then copied; but since only small quantities of DNA are available for forensic analysis, the short tandem repeats (STRs) at each genetic locus are copied as many times using the polymerase chain reaction(PCR) to get enough DNA to make a profile. An attachment of a fluorescent tag and the copied STRs is done by special specific primers. At this stage, the size of the STRs is now determined at each genetic locus by the use of a genetic analyzer which separates the copied DNA by gel electrophoresis that detects the fluorescent dye on every STR. Forensic scientists to determine if a given sample was driven from a particular individual, use data on which the number of times a nucleotide sequence is repeated in every STR which is calculated from the size of the STRs. In this effect, if any particular two samples driven from different profiles are the same, chances of them being from different persons are at a minimal level deducing with strong evidence that the samples came from a similar origin. Production of a DNA profile is an examination of STRs with at least ten genetic loci because the genetic loci normally are on different chromosomes.

Uses of the Application

DNA profiling has a number of uses, especially at this current time of the biotechnology era. Firstly, DNA profiling due to its trustworthy capability to differentiate one individual from another at the utmost in-depth level no matter how identical, is used in criminal and justice departments to trace and arrest offenders since samples of DNA can be obtained from little or small body fluids or tissues like hair strands or saliva which can be obtained from a hat an offender wore or a toothbrush he or she used even though they not available at the moment. In other cases, DNA profiling makes it easy for employers who before had a lot of stress dealing with employees who at that time took advantage of the tiresome and time-wasting work of head counting everyone to ensure report of all persons by reporting late or because at times supervisors and other departmental heads would skip the headcount as a factor to conserve time and never report expecting salaries or wages. With the embracing of DNA profiling, fingerprint scanners are installed at workplaces to scan employees as they report and leave after work minimizing time wastage.

DNA profiling also improved the livelihood of the human race in the manner that, family breakages are at a lowering rate due to inheritance rights issues. Families broke as a result when a family member died, outsiders would claim inheritance as if they were of that family. With DNA profiling, families can determine persons belonging to a specific family and those that are not. Financial institutions to deny access to sensitive areas within their vicinity to unauthorized personnel use fingerprint scanners that differentiate the authorized from the unauthorized ones creating a trust to the general public that their property is secure resulting in good business and improved day-to-day lives. National-wide registration of citizens became easier with DNA profiling compared to ancient times when too much paperwork lead to slow registration resulting in late census results, late or no services reached many who would not reach the registration centers due to old age, ailments or even those who got tired of long queues and gave up.

One Benefit of DNA Profiling

As a benefit, tracing of criminals like those involved in rape cases, robberies, and carjacking who to many instances tend to be wearing masks and are hardly recognizable by the victims or security cameras became easier as leaving something as small as a hair strand or a fingerprint, which are DNA samples, criminal departments match their DNA with those in databases giving the hair strand or fingerprint a face (Sakari et al., 2015). Families can now trace their long-lost members by the use of DNA profiling bringing them together as a happy family.

One Drawback of DNA Profiling

Costs associated with DNA profiling are not favorable to many who would wish to access it. In that case, the rapid growth of DNA sampling is limited. Professionals in line with DNA profiling are not as adequate as the demand contributing to the high cost of DNA profiling services and equipment.

One Risk of DNA Profiling

DNA profiling is exposed to the risk in such cases as those of parentage testing as people may get emotionally, financially, and even socially disturbed due to the results they get.

From an ethical point of view, because DNA profiling is a major tool in paternity testing, privacy is a major concern due to human error or favoritism aspects that may link the innocent person to crimes.

References

Alamoudi, E., Mehmood, R., Albeshri, A., & Gojobori, T. (2020). A survey of methods and tools for large-scale DNA mixture profiling. In Smart Infrastructure and Applications (pp. 217-248). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-13705-2_9

Sakari, S. L., Jimson, S., Masthan, K. M. K., & Jacobina, J. (2015). Role of DNA profiling in forensic odontology. Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences, 7(Suppl 1), S138. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4439652/