Daily Archives: December 23, 2013

Make a strawberry DNA cocktail
It #39;s mixology meets biology. Watch along as TED Fellow Oliver Medvedik walks you through the steps of how to create a yummy adult beverage that isolates stra...

By: TED Blog Video

Originally posted here:
Make a strawberry DNA cocktail - Video

DNA profiling (also called DNA testing, DNA typing, or genetic fingerprinting) is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals by their respective DNA profiles. DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's DNA makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier. DNA profiling should not be confused with full genome sequencing.[1] It is used in, for example, parental testing and criminal investigation.

Although 99.9% of human DNA sequences are the same in every person, enough of the DNA is different to distinguish one individual from another, unless they are monozygotic twins.[2] DNA profiling uses repetitive ("repeat") sequences that are highly variable,[2] called variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs), particularly short tandem repeats (STRs). VNTR loci are very similar between closely related humans, but so variable that unrelated individuals are extremely unlikely to have the same VNTRs.

The DNA profiling technique was first reported in 1984[3] by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester in England,[4] and is now the basis of several national DNA databases. Dr. Jeffreys's genetic fingerprinting was made commercially available in 1987, when a chemical company, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), started a blood-testing centre in England.[5]

The process begins with a sample of an individual's DNA (typically called a "reference sample"). The most desirable method of collecting a reference sample is the use of a buccal swab, as this reduces the possibility of contamination. When this is not available (e.g. because a court order may be needed and not obtainable) other methods may need to be used to collect a sample of blood, saliva, semen, or other appropriate fluid or tissue from personal items (e.g. toothbrush, razor, etc.) or from stored samples (e.g. banked sperm or biopsy tissue). Samples obtained from blood relatives (biological relative) can provide an indication of an individual's profile, as could human remains which had been previously profiled.

A reference sample is then analyzed to create the individual's DNA profile using one of a number of techniques, discussed below. The DNA profile is then compared against another sample to determine whether there is a genetic match.

The first methods for finding out genetics used for DNA profiling involved restriction enzyme digestion, followed by Southern blot analysis. Although polymorphisms can exist in the restriction enzyme cleavage sites, more commonly the enzymes and DNA probes were used to analyze VNTR loci. However, the Southern blot technique is laborious, and requires large amounts of undegraded sample DNA. Also, Karl Brown's original technique looked at many minisatellite loci at the same time, increasing the observed variability, but making it hard to discern individual alleles (and thereby precluding parental testing). These early techniques have been supplanted by PCR-based assays.

In 1985 (see Mullis and Faloona 1987) a process was reported by which specific portions of the sample DNA can be amplified almost indefinitely (Saiki et al. 1985, 1988). This has revolutionized the whole field of DNA study. The process, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), mimics the biological process of DNA replication, but confines it to specific DNA sequences of interest.

In this process, the DNA sample is denatured into the separate individual strands. Two DNA primers are used to hybridize to two corresponding nearby sites on opposite DNA strands in such a fashion that the normal enzymatic extension of the active terminal of each primer (that is, the 3 end) leads toward the other primer. In this fashion, two new copies of the sequence of interest are generated.

Repeated denaturation, hybridization, and extension in this fashion produce an exponentially growing number of copies of the DNA of interest. The denaturation is generally performed by heating, and in this case using, replication enzymes that are tolerant of high temperatures (Taq DNA polymerase). Instruments that perform thermal cycling are now readily available from commercial sources. This process can produce a million-fold or greater amplification of the desired region in 2 hours or less.

With the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, DNA profiling took huge strides forward in both discriminating power and the ability to recover information from very small (or degraded) starting samples. PCR greatly amplifies the amounts of a specific region of DNA, using oligonucleotide primers and a thermostable DNA polymerase. Early assays such as the HLA-DQ alpha reverse dot blot strips grew to be very popular due to their ease of use, and the speed with which a result could be obtained. However they were not as discriminating as RFLP. It was also difficult to determine a DNA profile for mixed samples, such as a vaginal swab from a sexual assault victim.

Go here to see the original:
DNA profiling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Details Published on Monday, 23 December 2013 14:40

The lower part of the face of the Emperor Pu-yi of Manchukuo, direct descendant of the Manchu rulers of China, is most distinctly Negroid/Kulture KriticCHINA is apparently finding out now what Black historians have been reporting for many years, the first inhabitants of China were in fact black.

H. Imbert, a French anthropologist said in his book, Les Negritos de la Chine,The Negroid races peopled at some time all the South of India, Indo-China and China. The South of Indo-China actually has now pure Negritos as the Semangs and mixed as the Malays and the Sakais.

Another author and professor, Chang Hsing-Lang, revealed similar information in writing The Importation of Negro Slaves to China under the Tang Dynasty, Even the sacred Manchu dynasty shows this Negro strain. The lower part of the face of the Emperor Pu-yi of Manchukuo, direct descendant of the Manchu rulers of China, is most distinctly Negroid.

These professors through their research and studies have reason to believe that a Negro Empire actually existed at the dawn of the countrys history citing evidence of substantial populations of Blacks in early China, including finding reports of a major kingdom ruled by Blacks being frequently mentioned in historical Chinese history documents. And,Chinese chroniclers report that a Negro Empire existed in the South of China at the dawn of that countrys history

The notion that blacks were the original inhabitants of China has been thwarted by white scientists and even some blacks as the result of a sweeping message of white superiority and inferiority of black Africans and their descendants spreading worldwide.

Negroid bone structure/Google ImagesIn 2005, DNA testing proved that the first inhabitants of China were black Africans. The study was conducted by a Chinese DNA specialist named Jin Li and a team of Chinese and other scientists. Li admits that he wasnt trying to prove this fact, instead he initially wanted to prove that the Chinese evolved from hmo erectus independently of all humans. After collecting more than 12000 DNA samples from 165 different ethnic groups, Li and his team found that early humans belonged to different species but modern humans had descended from the East African species.

One scientist on the team, Li Hui, said that 100,000 years ago humans began migrating through South and Southeast Asia into China from Africa. Their testing showed that 65 branches of Chinese all carry similar DNA mutations as the people of Southeast Asia.

Another scientist on the team, Jin Li had this to say about their findings, we did not see even one single individual that could be considered as a descendant of the hmo erectus in China, rather, everybody was a descendant of our ancestors from Africa.

Go here to read the rest:
DNA Evidence Proves That The First People In China Were Black