DNA Fingerprinting by PCR Amplification of HLA Genes

he term `DNA fingerprinting ' could be applied to any approach to detecting individual variation through analysis of DNA. It has, however, come to be associated with a particular method based around the technique of `Southern ' blotting. The application of this procedure has been widely acclaimed as a major breakthrough in forensic science, although its use has not been without criticism in some instances (Lander 1989). The power of the method to discriminate between individuals derives from the use of DNA probes that identify highly variable regions of the genome, usually short tandemly repeated sequences or minisatellites (Jeffreys et al. 1985; Nakamura et al. 1987; Wong et al. 1987). These regions are sufficiently variable that the probability of false identity is negligible, thus allowing positive identification to be made with confidence (Gill et al. 1985; Jeffreys et al. 1985). Because this approach is potentially so powerful, one might be tempted to think that we have gone as far as we need in our efforts to develop methods of identifying individual genetic variation for forensic purposes. Existing methods do, however, have a number of limitations and new techniques are now available that can overcome these