DISCUSSION

In this experiment, the DNA of the suspect is tested to find the criminal. The DNA sample
collected from the crime scene and from the suspect is first amplified by using PCR technique.
PCR produces large amounts of a specific piece of DNA. This may be due to its simplicity and
specificity. The specificity of PCR is its ability to target and amplify one specific segment of
DNA a few hundreds base pairs in length. PCR amplification is DNA replication in a test tube to
obtain the required target sequence. Before the PCR is performed, the DNA sample is first added
with master mix. The master mix contains all of the components for PCR to occur. The DNA
sequences used for forensic profiling come from regions of chromosome (loci) that do not
control any known traits and have no known functions. PCR process only amplifies the region of
interest that has the specific locus or the polymorphic allele from DNA sample. These STR loci
are targeted with sequence-specific primers and amplified using PCR. The allele ladder is used as
a marker or control fragments in this experiment. Each allele in allele ladder has been
characterized in terms of the number of repeat it contains. Since the component in the allele
ladder and the sample fragments that has been amplified have the same length and same
polymorphism sequence, they will migrate the same distance during electrophoresis. (James W.
Schumm; 1997) The DNA sizes of allele ladder are used to calibrate size range for allele
classification. This size range enables PCR products that are 1 bp different to be differentiated.
(John M. Butler ; 2010)
The sample from crime scene and from the suspect is analysed by using gel electrophoresis
method. The band produced indicates the STR fragments. The allele ladder is used to indicate the
STR fragments in the DNA sample. Allele ladder comprise of DNA fragments that represents
common alleles at specific locus. It shows all the possible allele that present in the locus. This is
used as a reference, or marker that is used to compare relatives sizes and identities. Before that,
to see the loci of allele, we have to use dye to make them seen clearly. From the results, suspect
D is recognized as the criminal. This is because, the STR fragments from suspect D matched the
STR fragments from the crime scene. Thus, it is very sure that suspect D are there at the crime
scene. The STR fragments for each people are different since they inherited the different
numbers of the repeated sequence from each of their parents. Statistically, no two people are
likely to have the same number of repeats in all of these STRs. The sample from crime scene

shows that the criminal has number of repeats sequences at allele 3 and 7, so is criminal D. The
other suspect also has the same number of repeats as the sample from the crime scene, but not as
much as the suspect D.

REFERENCES
1. John M.Butler (2010) ; Fundamentals of Forensic DNA Typing ; Elsevier Inc.
2. James W.Schumm (1997) ; Why use a size marker and allelic ladders in STR analysis.

RESULT

FIGURE 1: THE RESULT AFTER ELECTROPHORESIS AND DYEING