Bloody BatsFake DNA?

Last Thursdays class, Romie Littrel conducted a fun and enlightening workshop that utilized polymerase chain reaction or PCR to find those in the class who have the gene that encodes for bitter taste perception. I have always been curious about PCR because, even though I learned about it theoretically from my community college in biology and organic chemistry, my lab experience in replicating DNA was by using bacteria (i.e. the old way). PCR is quite fascinating in that it speeds up what usually takes days, in to just about two hours. In those two hours, the PCR enables researchers to produce millions of copies of a specific DNA sequence through cycles that consist of heated denaturation, annealing left and right primers, and Taq polymerase (a thermostable DNA polymerase enzyme that synthesizes DNA molecules from its nucleotide building blocks) synthesizing new DNA. Using PCR in class brought to mind an application of PCR that, being a murder-mystery fanatic when I am not pounding away at my textbooks, I encountered in the past: fabricating DNA evidence. In 2009, Israeli scientists developed a means of fabricating blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. In addition, they even found the method of using a DNA database profile to construct a sample of DNA to match without obtaining any tissue from the profiled person. There are two methods to obtain fabricated DNA. The first method is the most simplistic and requires a real, if small, sample of DNA which can be then amplified into a large quantity of DNA using whole genome amplification. The concept of whole genome amplification, also known as WGA, arose as PCR was adapted to replicated regions of genomes that are of biological interest. WGA is the process where genomic DNA is copied multiple times over to produce larger amounts DNA; basically an akin process to PCR. A sample of blood is then obtained from one person and centrifuged to remove the white blood cells. The leftover red blood cells (RBCs) that lack genetic material are injected with another persons DNA, thus giving the blood type of the first person along with the DNA of the second. The second method requires access to DNA profiles, usually found in law enforcement databases. These databases contain libraries of genomes from which the scientists can clone tiny DNA snippets represntng the common variants at 13 spots in a persons genome. To prepare a DNA sample matching any chosen profile, researchers mix the proper DNA snippets together (they believe that about 425 different DNA snippets would be enough to put together every conceivable profile). All in all, even though fabricated DNA has the potential to lead to faux evidence and is a potential invasion of personal privacy to others, it is an extraordinary use of PCR and makes for a very twisted plot in a thriller.