14 Biotechnology Law Report 641 (Number 4, July-August 1995)

SCIENCE IN THE COURTS

{BLR 2082} DNA Fingerprinting.

BLR UPDATE: NO, SHE WASN'T— DNA Analysis Proves Woman Was Not theRussian Grandduchess Anastasia

LONDON, UK 10/94—

DNA tests on tissue removed for medical reasonsfrom Anna Anderson Manahan proved that the woman could not have beenAnastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Russian Czar. Manahan hadclaimed for more than 60 years that she was the Grandduchess despite earlierscientific evidence that she was not.

Czar Nicholas, Czarina Alexandra, and their children were shot in July1918. The bodies were recovered in July 1991. Tissue from the remains wasused in the DNA testing of Manahan's tissues.

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{BLR 2083} DNA Fingerprinting-

PCR-

RFLP.

Shootout at the o.j. Corral:round-up and analysis of forensic dna testing

By Thomas W. MacAllister

O.J. Simpson, an ex-football great, has done what countless scienceteachers have failed to do: he made "DNA' a household word. DNA is probablyno better understood than before the trial, but it has been integrated intoeveryday vocabulary. Furthermore, the trial has brought attention to the issuesrelating to forensic DNA testing.

Meaning and Implications of RFLP

"DNA testing" generally refers to a technique called restriction fragmentlength polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. Approximately 99% of the humangenome is the same in all people; RFLP technology relies on the detection ofregions of DNA, called alíeles, that are highly variable (polymorphic) in thepopulation. This technique can provide a very exact identification or exclusionof a suspect: theoretically, a single individual can be identified from the entireworld population using this technique. This is the test that the prosecutionrelied on most heavily in the Simpson case.