concept

Fragile X pedigree + rflp autoradiograph

The first DNA fingerprint. The first three lanes contain DNA from a woman, her mother and her father respectively. Lanes 4 - 11 contain DNA from assorted other species including mouse, baboon, lemur, cow, grey seal and tobacco (last lane). The DNA probe used in this experiment detected tandomly repeated short stretches of DNA called minisatellites whose length varies between individuals.

An early DNA fingerprint showing DNA patterns from a mother (lanes 2 and 8) and her four children (adjacent lanes to the right). Lane 1 is an unrelated person. The two sets of lanes show the fingerprints reveled with two different probes that detect different types of repeated sequences.

DNA sequencing autoradiograph showing the researcher's annotations.

DNA sequencing. This method of DNA sequencing is called di-deoxy sequencing. It is used to determine the order of bases (A,C,G and T) in a piece of DNA using radioactively-labelled modified nucleotides. They are then separated by electrophoresis in a polyacrylamide gel and detected on x-ray film by a process called autoradiography.

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Fragile X pedigree + rflp autoradiograph

Fragile X pedigree + rflp autoradiograph

DNA sequencing autoradiograph showing the researcher's annotations.