Deck 28: DNA Forensics

Question 1

The development of which biotechnology revolutionized the field of DNA forensics?

A)GWAS
B)PCR
C)Sanger sequencing
D)capillary electrophoresis

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Mitochondrial DNA profiling is used to trace the maternal side of family trees.Why is this done using mtDNA?

A)The mtDNA is supplied to the zygote only from the egg.
B)The mtDNA under low selective pressure mutates readily.
C)The mtDNA undergoes recombination allowing allelic mixture.
D)The mtDNA only comes from the father so all differences are from the mother.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

DNA phenotyping represents an emerging technology that uses SNPs to determine physical features.Describe why DNA phenotyping faces skepticism in court rooms and from other scientists with regard to its accuracy.

Answer 3

DNA phenotyping faces scrutiny and skepticism due to its reliance on multiple genes as well as multiple SNPs in those genes to provide a rather low probability of a correct identification.

Question 4

VNTRs are useful in DNA forensics because_______ .

A)the VNTRs have exactly the same sequence between people
B)the VNTRs act as an identifier for a group of individuals
C)the VNTRs have very little variation in length
D)the number of VNTRs varies between people

Question 5

Explain why Identical twins can have the same STRs in a DNA profile yet still exhibit differing phenotypes.

Question 6

Provide support for using the product rule in generating a high confidence that an individual has a unique DNA profile using multiple STRs.

Question 7

When using DNA profiling in prosecuting criminal cases,lawyers must be very thorough in their investigation of the DNA evidence.Which of the following could cause issues with the DNA evidence presented in a court case?

A)quantity
B)transference
C)deference
D)recombination

Question 8

Single- nucleotide polymorphisms SNPs are being used more and more in forensic analysis yet have not been fully embraced.However,SNPs have found an exemplary use in which of the following fields?

A)VNTR copy number studies
B)epigenetic regulation studies
C)protein stability studies
D)evolution studies

Question 9

Mitochondrial DNA profiling is primarily used to differentiate_______ .

A)mothers from daughters
B)siblings
C)unrelated individuals
D)mothers and sons

Question 10

DNA phenotyping poses several concerns as an emerging technology.Which of the following is not a concern with DNA phenotyping?

A)its ability to help identify missing persons
B)racial profiling
C)privacy violations
D)intellectual property of the company's methodologies

Question 11

Which of the following contribute to an increased probability of a random match of a DNA profile in a population?

A)a population with inbreeding
B)a random population with many relatives
C)a population containing limited VNTR variation
D)a population with a small number of identical twins

Question 12

Why does DNA profiling pose potential ethical problems when a partial match occurs in CODIS?

Question 13

CODIS Combined DNA Index System is a database that contains DNA profiles from all of the following EXCEPT_______ .

A)public servants
B)unidentified remains
C)people convicted of certain crimes
D)crime scene evidence

Question 14

One of the advantages of STR profiling over VNTR profiling is that_______ .

A)it presents more variable sequences reducing false positive matches
B)STRs are not variable in the number of repeats,whereas VNTRs are
C)STRs are variable in the number of repeats,whereas VNTRs are not
D)it requires much less DNA because PCR can be used to amplify small samples

Question 15

Justify the FBI's use of only 20 short tandem repeats STRs as their core set of STRs for forensic analysis.

Question 16

Mitochondrial DNA profiling is useful in developing DNA profiles from samples that are in less than ideal condition.What is a major limitation of using mitochondrial DNA profiling?

A)It is not possible to differentiate between maternal relatives.
B)It is possible to differentiate between maternal relatives.
C)It is useful in identifying victims of disasters when relatives are available for reference.
D)It is present in high copy number.

Question 17

STRs are repeated elements in the genome.They have _______nucleotides per repeat compared to VNTRs.

A)the same number
B)more
C)precisely two times the number
D)fewer

Question 18

There are several concerns with using DNA profiling in forensics with the advent of cheaper synthesis methods for DNA.Propose a mechanism to determine if crime scene evidence is natural or synthetic.

Question 19

Using the values in TABLE ST 2.2; what is the expected genotype frequency for the two loci profile consisting of D8S1179 and D5S818?

A)0.102
B)0.001936
C)0.019
D)0.000421

Question 20

Present evidence supporting the argument that Y chromosome STR profiling is not sufficient for proper DNA profiling.