Abstract
Simple tandem-repetitive regions of DNA (or ‘minisatellites’) which are dispersed in the human genome frequently show substantial length polymorphism arising from unequal exchanges which alter the number of short tandem repeats in a minisatellite1–4. We have shown previously that the repeat elements in a subset of human minisatellites share a common 10–15-base-pair (bp) ‘core’ sequence which might act as a recombination signal in the generation of these hypervariable regions5. A hybridization probe consisting of the core repeated in tandem can detect many highly polymorphic minisatellites simultaneously to provide a set of genetic markers of general use in human linkage analysis5. We now show that other variant (core)n probes can detect additional sets of hypervariable minisatellites to produce somatically stable DNA ‘fingerprints’ which are completely specific to an individual (or to his or her identical twin) and can be applied directly to problems of human identification, including parenthood testing.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Bell, G. I., Selby, M. J. & Rutter, W. J. Nature 295, 31–35 (1982).
Proudfoot, N. J., Gil, A. & Maniatis, T. Cell 31, 553–563 (1982).
Goodbourn, S. E. Y., Higgs, D. R., Clegg, J. B. & Weatherall, D. J. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80, 5022–5026 (1983).
Capon, D. J., Chen, E. Y., Levinson, A. D., Seeburg, P. H. & Goeddel, D. V. Nature 302, 33–37 (1983).
Jeffreys, A. J., Wilson, V. & Thein, S. L. Nature 314, 67–73 (1985).
Jeffreys, A. J. Cell 18, 1–10 (1979).
Southern, E. M. Meth. Enzym. 68, 152–176 (1980).
Vieira, J. & Messing, J. Gene 19, 259–268 (1982).
Nilsson, K., Klein, G., Henle, W. & Henle, G. Int. J. Cancer 8, 443–450 (1971).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jeffreys, A., Wilson, V. & Thein, S. Individual-specific ‘fingerprints’ of human DNA. Nature 316, 76–79 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316076a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316076a0
This article is cited by
-
Short tandem repeats — how microsatellites became the currency of forensic genetics
Nature Reviews Genetics (2024)
-
Getting the chronological age out of DNA: using insights of age-dependent DNA methylation for forensic DNA applications
Genes & Genomics (2023)
-
Conformation and molecular dynamics simulation of the interaction between cytochrome c and DNA
Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society (2023)
-
Molar pregnancy unveiled by DNA profiling: a rare forensic case study
Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences (2022)
-
SSR individual identification system construction and population genetics analysis for Chamaecyparis formosensis
Scientific Reports (2022)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.