Dna Biology Forensic Science Essay - 958 Words

1.1.1.1 Forensic DNA Biology: Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has revolutionized forensic science. Of all the disciplines in forensic science, forensic biology has seen the most technological advances in the past thirty years. Forensic biology is a field of study that uses DNA to identify victims and to associate suspects and victims to crime scenes. The large forensic advantage of high copy number and the stability of the mtGenome is a direct consequence of the mitochondrion’s function and evolutionary history. Understanding the necessary functions encoded in its genome enhances our appreciation of molecular genetics of mitochondrial gene variation. Mammalian mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNA) have two separate origins of replication. The origin of the heavy strand (guanine rich) is located within a region termed the Displacement loop (D-loop) and the light strand (cytosine rich) synthesis originates within a cluster of five tRNA genes nearly opposite of the D-loop. The single focus of current forensic typing is the D-loop. The D-loop consists of approximately 1100 base pairs of â€Å"noncoding† DNA and is commonly referred to as the hypervariable region due to an increased frequency of mutation as compared to the remaining portion of the mtgenome. The hypervariable region is further divided into three segments. Hypervariable region I (HV1) spans nucleotide positions 16024-16365; hypervariable region II (HV2) span nucleotide positions 73-340; and hypervariable region III (HV3) spansShow MoreRelatedTechnology And Science By Law Enforcement1653 Words   |  7 PagesJustice defines forensic science as, â€Å"the application of science, such as physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, and engineering to matters of law,† (2014). The emphasis here is the use of technology and science by law enforcement officers and agencies and is accepted and recognized by the criminal justice system. 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