DNA Fingerprint T-Shirt, part of the True Crime and Crime Prevention Collection of T-Shirts. The DNA molecule, present in every cell in our bodies, is a chain of molecules, sugars, and phosphates. The order in which these components arrange themselves in the chain is, statistically speaking, unique to every individual (except for identical twins). The DNA molecule is the same in every cell, and remains constant (with slight, rare variations) during an individual’s life. Scientists can harvest a person’s DNA molecule from any cell, be it tissue, blood, sweat, semen, bone, saliva, and so on. Once the DNA ladder is analyzed, it can be compared to another molecule’s DNA. Forensic scientists perform such comparisons in order to:
- Link a suspect to a crime or exonerate someone, where biological evidence has been left at the crime, by comparing the suspect’s DNA to that left at the scene
- Determine parentage, for purposes of paternity, immigration, and other cases, and
- Identify human remains, when visual or dental determinations are not possible or conclusive.
