todd@uop.edu ( Dr. Nethack ) (07/13/88)
I am in search of *any* and *all* pertinant information on the subject of using someone's DNA to identify them. What is the "state of the art" in terms of the technology? Who do I talk to about it? What is the current legal premise? (references to other cases?) What is the accuracy in terms of the current abilities of DNA science? In other words: How do we know it is accurate? To what degree is it accurate? What are the other variables? (amount of sample?) PLEASE E-MAIL ANYTHING YOU HAVE AS FAR AS SOURCES ARE CONCERNED. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! If a good discussion erupts, I will save pertinant things from it that seem noteworthy. Thank you all for your help (again) in advance! --- ARPA cogent!uop!todd@lll-winken.arpa BITNET ucdavis!uop!todd@ucbvax.BITNET Or something like that UUCP ucbvax!ucdavis!uop!todd anyway... UUNET uop!todd@uunet.uu.net
toms@ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) (07/13/88)
I think that the initial reference is:
@article{Scharf1986,
author = "S. J. Scharf
and G. T. Horn
and H. A. Erlich",
title = "Direct Cloning and Sequence Analysis of Enzymatically
Amplified Genomic Sequences",
journal = "Science",
volume = "233",
pages = "1078-1076",
year = "1986"}
You can find all references to that using Science Citation Index
in your local library. That should keep you busy!
The latest advance is that one can do the amplification
using the DNA from single hairs. The limit of the technique is a single
DNA molecule, and the luck that it isn't broken. The accuracy is
as detailed as desired, since one could in theory sequence large chunks
of a persons DNA. So, since each person (other than twins) is essentially
unique, a single hair may be enough to identify anybody on the planet.
The probability that one is wrong will depend on how much work someone
is willing to do.
Tom Schneider
National Cancer Institute
Laboratory of Mathematical Biology
Frederick, Maryland
toms@ncifcrf.gov