Ebl Training Case
Ebl Training Case
Ebl Training Case
1 Excavations for the foundations of the latest house on the outskirts of Newton were
2 nearing completion. The attention of the driver of the mechanical digger was drawn to
3 an unusual object in the last pile of sandy soil he had scooped from the surface of the
5 unmistakably human.
7 The police were called and the area sealed off. A Home Office Pathologist was called
8 to the scene and she confirmed their suspicions: based on the mixed dentition present,
9 these were the remains of a young child. The remains were carefully removed for
11
13 thorough examination of the jaw and give an estimate of the child’s age and any other
14 details that might help with identification. The contemporary restorations suggested
16
17 Although there was no soft tissue on the skeletal remains, the Forensic Odontologist
18 managed to obtain sufficient material for DNA analysis and she was able to determine
Structure of a tooth:
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is double-helical genetic material with four nucleotides that will aid the
creation of amino acids (and future proteins). The double-helical structure is held together with
hydrogen bonds between the nucleotides, with a phosphate backbone on the outside of the helix.
The structure of a single nucleotide is below:
- Ribose sugar
o DNA codes for amino acids, which for different structured proteins which are found
everywhere in the body, from the outside (hair, nails) to the inside (collagen, cell barriers)
1) DNA begins to unzip, the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs are broken with the
enzyme DNA helicase
2) Once the bases are exposed, this serves as a template to guide the complementary
bases on the strand being synthesised (this can only happen from 5’ to 3’)
3) The joining of the nucleotides is synthesised by DNA polymerase, shunting along the
DNA in the 5’ to 3’ direction
5) Each nucleotide is covalently linked to the number 3 carbon in the pentose sugar
6) The nucleotides are assembled in the order that complements the order of bases on the
template strand
7) The excess phosphate (called pyrophosphate) in the nucleotide is removed when the
nucleotides bond, this forms phosphodiester bond
2) Southern blot hybridisation – a procedure for identifying specific sequences of DNA, this can be
used to identify the Y chromosome. If why Y chromosome present then boy, if absent then girl
DNA Markers: DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify
individuals
DNA Profiling