Question

Satellite DNA is useful tool in

• A. organ transplantation
• B. sex determination
• C. forensic science
• D. genetic engineering.

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

forensic science

Answer 2

The knowledge and technique of medical science applied to assist in the resolution of crimes, legal disputes, etc. constitute forensic medicine. DNA fingerprinting or DNA profiling, is a highly sensitive and extremely versatile approach to solve these problems. In general, the polymorphism of minisatellite, microsatellite and minivariant repeats (MVR) is analyzed for DNA fingerprinting or DNA profiling. These sequences together consitute the variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs). These sequences are dispersed throughout the genome and constitute the hypervariable dispersed repetitive sequence. In minisatellite DNA the repeat units are of 15-60 bp. In contrast, the repeat unit are of 1-13 bp in case of microsatellites, which are also called short tandem repeats (STRs).