ADN WITH THE PATERNITY DNA TEST description for lawyers, clinical laboratories and the general public Dr. en C. Hector Rangel Villalobos [1]

Summary The easy availability of genetic profiles has revolutionized human identification to solve criminal cases and to determine biological relationships of kinship, common paternity. The short tandem repeats, better known as STRs are the most widely used genetic markers for this purpose. A DNA profile consists of genotypes for a number of STRs, which are almost unique code to differentiate or relate to a person biologically. Currently the lab is based on three techniques: 1) DNA extraction, 2) multiplex PCR, and 3) capillary electrophoresis, and there are commercial kits to easily develop this …ver más…

DNA is important because their information is necessary for the functioning of the cell, as it contains the "instructions" to synthesize proteins [5], who conducted themselves different cellular functions in the form of enzymes, hormones, receptors, transporters , structural molecules, contraction, support, immune, etc.

Figure 2. Double helix structure (right) of DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid. The nucleotides (A, G, C and T) are inside the double-stranded DNA.

The full complement of genetic material we receive from our parents is called genome [6] and is located in the heart of practically all our cells, so it is theoretically possible to test DNA from a single cell of about any tissue. Humans receive a double genetic endowment, paternal and maternal, that is our genome, which contains 6.000 million nucleotides. Of all the information that constitutes the genome, only a small part is used or "expressed" to form proteins (less than 5%) to the fragments of the genome with a nucleotide sequence that serves to form a protein are called genes [ 7] (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Location of the human genome in the cell nucleus. It shows a chromosome and a gene, the latter characterized by having information to make a protein.

Molecular Markers Considering the vast amount of information contained in the genome, we can see its potential