DNA Analysis (Basic) – STR Locations on Cards

In doing the Mystery at Old Fields™ DNA Analysis Lab (Basic), keep in mind that you are analyzing the resulting pattern produced by a gel electrophoresis DNA experiment conducted on only five of the 20 STR regions that are normally tested by a professional analyst.

For there to be a certain match, all 20 regions would have to match the control sample with the evidence.

These five regions examined in this lab are named: D3S1358, vWA, D16S539, CSF1PO and TPOX.

If there is only one band of color in the “lane” for that sample, that means the sample is homozygous (both strands of the DNA have the same amount repeat patterns and are therefore the same length).

If there are two bands of color in the lane for that sample, that means the sample is heterozygous (each strand of the DNA has a different amount repeat patterns and are therefore different lengths).