Question

Following the tragic shooting of 20 children at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, Connecticut's state medical examiner requested a full genetic analysis of the killer's genome. What do you think investigators might be looking for? What might they expect to find? Might this analysis lead to oversimplified analysis of the cause of the tragedy?

Accepted Answer

Hello, everyone. Welcome back. Let's look at our next question. Which of the following uses of genetic testing is appropriate for identifying crime suspects, determining the biological relationship between two people and other legal applications. When we think about genetic testing that would identify people and identify genetic relationships. Um You wanna think about testing for D N A sequences that we know vary between individuals that helps you would distinguish um one individual from another in D N A samples from a crime scene. But because these DNA sequences are inherited from parents, um they will have similarities and related people. So they can be used to characterize the genetic relationship between two people. And the term for that sort of genetic testing is choice d forensic testing. Let's just look at our other answer choices to understand why they're not correct. Choice. A preimplantation, preimplantation testing would be genetic testing of embryos prior to implantation to screen for genetic diseases. But now we're what we're looking for here. Choice be diagnostic testing would be testing DNA sequences for diagnosis of a genetic disease. So looking for a specific DNA sequence that we know contains a mutation um or other error that would lead to a specific genetic disease. And then choice c carrier testing would be genetic testing to let people know if they carry a single copy of a gene for a recessive genetic disorder. So they don't have the genetic disease, but do they carry a copy of that, that might be passed on to any Children? But that's also not a correct answer. So you notice the commonality there between our three incorrect answers is that all our methods of using testing D N A for the presence of various genetic disorders or diseases. Whereas forensic testing is testing DNA sequences for identity, whether the identity of an individual or genetic relationship, genetic relationship, identity between individuals. So again, which of the following uses of genetic testing is appropriate for identifying crime suspects, determining the biological relationship between two people and other legal applications. And that would be choice d forensic testing. See you in the next video.

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