Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins
This article highlights a breakthrough in scientific discovery that allows forensic scientists to distinguish the DNA of identical twins. Since the 1980s DNA profiling has been a vital tool for forensic investigators, but in the courtroom legal issues have arisen in cases involving an identical twin. Due to the factor of doubt to which of the pair could have committed the crime prosecutions have been dropped and the bad guy has gotten off on a technicality. But now Dr. Graham Williams and his Forensic Genetics Research Group at the University of Huddersfield have found a solution. A previous method known as “mutation analysis” allows you to tell twins apart by sequencing the whole genome of both twins to identify mutations that might have occurred to one of them. But this has its flaws if neither of the twins has a mutation, and its expensive which police forces would not be able to spend. Dr. Williams concept is based on DNA methylation. DNA methylation is what turns our genes on/off in our body. As twins get older the develop different habits (i.e. smoker/ non smoker) and live in different environments which cause changes in the methylation status of their DNA. Dr Williams and his team found a way to measure the melting point of two DNA samples by subjecting the DNA to increasingly high temperatures until the hydrogen bonds break. DNA With different methylation statuses will measure at different points. Therefore allowing you to tell the twins DNA apart. They named this method "high resolution melt curve analysis" (HRMA).
This new discovery has taken the forensic society one step closer to eliminating DNA technicalities from the courtroom. It will cause much fewer prosecutions to be dropped and far more criminals to be convicted of their crimes. It also brings forensic science closer to being more positive in separating DNA that is very similar between strangers and siblings. the chance that strangers have the same DNA is one in a billion and for siblings it is one in ten thousand, but that is still possibility. And if it is, forensic scientists can now use HRMA to disprove doubt in the courtroom.
I think the article did an excellent job explaining the new technique in layman's terms. It was scientific, yet not too difficult to understand, and very relatable. The article would have been stronger if it had mentioned some of the cases which were dropped in court involving twins. That factor would have helped by emphasizing the relevance to society in my review as well.
University of Huddersfield. "Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 April 2015.
10 comments:
Emme Kerj
Current event 10 comment:
First off: loved the article, really interesting! I thought you did a great job summarizing the main points of the article without going too much into detail. I also really liked the fact that you explained why this is so important to the forensics community since this will allow for cases involving identical twins to not make any errors or let DNA evidence slide just because they couldn’t tell it apart. I also thought that it was good that you explained the flaws of the previous method and then compared it to the new one so that it became clear why this current event is so important.
I thought that you should have mentioned some of the flaws with this new technique that the article mentions, for example that it is still hard to tell apart young identical twins’ DNA, even with the new technique, since they are mostly around the same environments.
One thing that really interested me and surprised me is the whole idea behind the articles that a scientist was actually capable of separating identical twin DNA. I think it’s cool because you always hear that the only DNA that is a “natural clone” is that of identical twins. I also didn’t know that there is even a one in ten thousand chance that siblings have identical DNA which I found really interesting.
Works cited:
University of Huddersfield. "Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 April 2015.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150423125745.htm
I read Lain’s post on the blog reviewing the article titled, “Crime Scene Discovery: Scientist Separates the DNA of identical twins.” She discussed what the article was about which was the recent discovery of a new method to tell identical twins DNA apart from one another. I liked how informational the post was and how it went into detail on how the new technology, "high resolution melt curve analysis" (HRMA) works. I able able to learn that the scientists who invented this new method figured out a way to measure the melting point of two DNA samples by subjecting the DNA to increasingly high temperatures until the hydrogen bonds would break. Since with age the two DNA samples gain develop different methylation statuses due to different habits and surroundings, the methylation statuses of the two samples would measure at different points. I also thought she explained well how the use of this new technology could benefit solving criminal investigations. She went into detail on how forensic analysts have struggles to solve crimes due to the issue of unidentifiable differences between DNA samples in twins. I also thought she did an excellent job describing the article without using too difficult scientific terms. I think maybe discussing who is currently using this new technology and whether it will ever be available to police departments worldwide. I also think discussing cases could have benefited the article as well as the review. Overall, Lain did an excellent job explaining the simple yet detailed article as well as wrote an organized comment that was easy to follow.
I think you did a good job at explaining what mutation analysis is. You also explained very well that high resolution melt curve analysis melts certain points of DNA samples by heating up the DNA in high temperatures so hydrogen bonds break to help distinguish between twins DNA samples. Lastly you described very well that there are problems with using mutation analysis by telling us that it is too expensive for police forces to use.
I think overly your review is great a suggestion that I would give is to add more quotes from the article into the review. Another suggestion I would give is to say if the high resolution melt curve analysis is being used in any police forces for cases yet or if it's still being developed.
I was so surprised that because twins live in different environments their methylation status of their DNA changes which helps scientist to tell their DNA’s apart.
I thought that overall Lain did a great job with her review of the article she chose. One of the things in particular I thought she did very well was thoroughly explaining the importance of the separation of DNA of identical twins. It is very important for these reviews to thoroughly analyze the importance of such subjects in the forensic world, and this review did a great job at that. Another thing that was done well was writing an efficient and clear summary of the article. It was not dragged out or too long, but rather it was efficient and had all of the important details of the article. Finally, I thought that this review did a great job with analyzing the flaws of this new method, as it shows that the reviewer put a lot of thought into the article.
While this review did many things very well, some of the things it could have improved on include breaking down the actual process a little more clear, as it was just a little hard to understand. Also it could have started with an intriguing “hook” sentence to grasp the reader’s attention.
One thing I learned was that modern science actually allows for scientists to separate identical twin DNA. I did not know this was possible, and it is very cool to see how scientifically advanced our society is today.
Works cited:
University of Huddersfield. "Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 April 2015.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150423125745.htm
Current Event Review
Natalia Kaminski
University of Huddersfield. "Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 April 2015.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150423125745.htm
I think Lain did a really good job of summarizing the article that she read. It was easy to read and understand because she summarizes this breakthrough in scientific discovery with not too much detail, rather just enough to give us a good understanding of the topic. Not only did she do a good job explaining the new method, she also gave us a good understanding of how this method will eliminate DNA technicalities in the courtroom. Another thing that I liked was that Lain bolded “high resolution melt curve analysis.” This may seem like a small thing, but it was useful in that the name of the method was easily accessible while reading her review.
Instead of jumping right into the facts, I feel like Lain could have started with a opening line that would catch the reader’s immediate attention. It also would have been nice if Lain had quoted an expert or scientist directly from the article to establish credibility.
I was surprised that such DNA technicalities between strangers and siblings occur in the DNA lab. Although it is one in a billion for two strangers to have the same DNA, like Lain said, it could still happen, so it is good that scientists and DNA analysts are more prepared for these kinds of situations.
University of Huddersfield. "Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins." ScienceDaily.ScienceDaily,23 April 2015.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150423125745.htm
I think lain did a good job of grabbing the reader in. In the beginning, she started off describing what scientific discovery that was made which allowed forensic scientists to distinguish the DNA of identical twins. She also did a good job talking about the history behind the profiling of identical twins and how it was a problem since the 1980s. She talks about how prosecutors make mistakes sometimes differing the twins which causes technicalities and accusations to sometimes be inaccurate. Another good thing Lain included was the founder of the technique to differ the DNA between identical twins which was Dr. GRaham Williams and his Forensic Genetics Research Group at the University of Huddersfield. One improvement that I thought could be suggested would be for her to go into deeper detail or an example of a case where they made a mistake of the accusation towards the wrong twin and what they learned from it and how they fixed it. I also think that she could have described the relevance to society, but she stated that the article didn’t even have the relevance to society. I learned a couple things from Lain’s review of the article. I learned a new way forensic scientists have made to differ DNA from identical twins as well as how it will benefit prosecutors. She says the new study helps forensic scientists to eliminate DNA technicalities from the courtroom which is a major problem in some cases. I also learned that there were problems within the courtroom that could occur that I have never thought of. For example, prosecutors have to drop cases because they aren’t sure which twin had done the crime because they didn’t have to technology to differ the DNA from each identical twin. I thought Lain did a great job with the article and I thought it was very interesting and pulled my attention in.
Lain, your article was very interesting, and you did a nice job picking a very relevant and interesting topic. Before reading your current event, i never thought about the issue regarding identical twins and their DNA in the courtroom. After reading this, I can see how beneficial knowing the DNA differences would be in a court case. The scientific discovery is tremendously important and relevant to our society. This new information and science that we have established allows us to not mis diagnose identical twins in a trial. The method used prior to the finding was called the "mutation analysis" which allows you to tell twins apart by sequencing the whole genome of both twins to identify mutations that might have occurred to one of them, but it has flaws if neither twin had a mutation and its expensive. So, with the new findings of Dr. Williams allows us to separate this DNA in a cheaper and more efficient way. You did an awesome job explaining why the new procedure is beneficial, but maybe explaining what the new procedure entails more would be helpful. Overall, great article choice, I really enjoyed reading about this topic.
University of Huddersfield. "Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 April 2015.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150423125745.htm
Lain did a great job on reviewing the article “Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins.” She was immediately able to draw readers in by opening with the fact that forensic scientists can now differentiate identical twins’ DNA. Also, as a reader, it was nice to have a brief background on the relevance of this discovery in court, such as that cases had to remain unsolved because of doubt to who committed the crime. Lain was able to transition to introducing the scientists who created the newest technique to separating twins’ DNA: Dr. Graham Williams and the Forensic Genetics Research Group at the University of Huddersfield. This flawlessly led to her explanation of the “mutation analysis,” which was the old method that scientists used, and its flaws, such as the fact that it is an expensive process to carry through with. Lain compares and contrasts this new technique, named the “high resolution melt curve analysis” or HRMA, clearly and simply enough for readers to get a grasp on what this newly discovered method actually does. Beforehand, though, she explains what DNA methylation is--essentially to this new technique--which is helpfully to readers because the review progresses into the fact that as twins grow up, their methylation status of their DNA changes due to their different environments in which they grow up. It is here, as Lain explains, that Dr. Williams and his team was able to separate twins’ DNA: different melting points occur for DNA with different methylation statuses. This review was fascinating to read.
Although the review was well-constructed, some of the sentence structures were difficult to understand and there were small grammar issues; nothing that could not be easily fixed by briefly proofreading. Also, if possible, the inclusion of a direct quote from Dr. Williams or another person part of the team would have added an extra layer of depth and understanding to the review. Otherwise, Lain did an excellent job on writing this review and chose a compelling topic.
I was absolutely amazed that forensic scientists now have the capabilities and techniques to distinguish twins’ DNA.
This article review was very interesting to read. I thought it was very helpful that Lain described what it was like before this discovery, and how this discovery can help us with future crimes. I like how she gave us the pros and the cons of the previous solution of how to tell twins apart, which was by sequencing the whole genome. Lain did a great job in explaining all of the scientific terms in a simple terms for the rest of us. It was nice to be able to understand everything fully. There are two ways this could have been approved. First, it would have made this easier to read if this were separated into paragraphs. Also, It would have been better if Lain gave us her opinion of this new process. If she elaborated on how it helps us now, in the future, and society as a whole, this would have helped the flow of the review significantly. I find DNA methylation very fascinating. This is what turns our genes on and off in our body. Therefore, as twins get older and develop different habits and in different environments, it causes changes in the methylation status of their DNA.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150423125745.htm
University of Huddersfield. "Crime scene discovery: Scientist separates the DNA of identical twins." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 April 2015.
This article was very interesting and well summarized. It talks about a new crime scene discovery that enables scientists to separate the DNA of identical twins. This is good news, since it prevents any criminal twin that thinks they can can get away with a crime since they have an identical twin to put the blame on. But thanks to Dr.Graham Williams and his Forensic Genetics Research Group at the University of Huddersfield have found a solution to this problem. Dr.Graham’s concept is from DNA methylation, which turns our genes on/off in our body. It was interesting to find out that as twins get older, they develop different habits and live in different environments which cause changes in the methylation status of their DNA. However, Dr.Graham and his team discovered a method to measure the melting point of two DNA samples by subjecting the DNA to increasingly high temperatures until the hydrogen bonds break. DNA With different methylation statuses will measure at different points. Therefore allowing you to tell the twins DNA apart.
This article was very well written and concise, however could’ve improved by including a little bit more information to how they discovered this new method and some statistics on how many twin cases were solved using this new technique.
Overall, this article was really interesting. One detail I thought was interesting was how as twins grow older, their living environment and different habits can change their methylation status of DNA.
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