DNA

DNA

Abstract

At start, DNA testing was used mainly to connect the culprits of fierce crimes such as homicide and sexual abuse. Lately, however, the scope of forensic DNA analysis has spread out to include crimes such as shoplifting and car theft. In acknowledgment of the concept that many culprits to commit comparatively small crimes before the escalation of more crimson crimes, the agencies realize the importance of analysing biological grounds of these offenses. The first instance of forensic DNA are used in a criminal case led to the arrest and 1986 conviction of murderer and rapist Colin Pitchfork, in Leicestershire, UK. Following DNA comparisons to more than 4,000, the police led finally to the suspect, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. 20 years later, forensic deoxyribonucleic acid has spread out to become applicable in many fields, and continues to gain global ill fame.

DNA

DNA or sometime also knows as deoxyribonucleic acid is present in all humans and in almost all organisms. Anthropology has studied humankind in numerous capacities: morphologically, culturally, archaeologically, and philosophically. However, the knowledge gained by understanding the DNA molecule has increased our knowledge of humankind on a genetic and molecular level. In addition, with the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, the entire human genome has been sequenced and is now available for analysis (Galton, 1990).

This is important to anthropologists because it allows the field to go beyond the bones and into the DNA. Genetic engineering may provide scientific ways to explore the chemical record provided by DNA. Anthropologists will be able to view and explore the past, the present, and conceivably the future of any species, including our own, by the scientific examination of DNA. In addition, understanding DNA and genetic engineering will potentially provide anthropologists with analytical data to explain our genetic relationship to other primates.

This type of data will serve to strengthen and further clarify earlier DNA homology studies that have already provided empirical evidence of our close genetic relationships to chimpanzees and gorillas (Siegetsleitner, 2006). In the future, this technology can be used to determine our genetic relationship to Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons.

The genetic study of Homo sapiens is possible because the DNA molecule provides a chemical record of humankind's genetic makeup and evolutionary history as a process of time. This chemical record will allow examination because DNA is present in every cell in the body and is universal to all life-forms on this planet. All current conglomerations of DNA in all living species are a result of genetic variation and natural selection within populations throughout ongoing organic evolution (Grandy, 2009b).

Future Directions

The future applications of genetic engineering are numerous indeed. Most of the immediate impact will be seen in the fields of anthropology and medicine. In medicine, there will be improvements in clinical therapeutics and individualized medicine. This will improve life spans and harness the potential to halt or reverse the aging process.

In anthropology, the completion of genome projects will assist in establishing genetic relationships between humankind and other ...