Case Of The Crown Jewels Template (Page 8 of 28) in pdf

Case Of The Crown Jewels Template Page 8

Pre-laboratory Explanation (20 – 30 minutes)

Provide a Final Report handout to each group. After each group has finished putting the DNA fragments

on the chart, have each team fill out the Final Report. Lead a class discussion regarding their conclusions

and the process they employed to obtain evidence based on DNA. Possible discussion questions could be:

This process is often referred to as DNA fingerprinting. Why do you think this term is used?

Why use DNA as evidence?

What purpose do the restriction enzyme serve?

Does a match of the suspect DNA fragments with the crime DNA fragments mean the suspect is

guilty? Why or why not?

Emphasize that the distinguishing characteristic of DNA is the sequence of nucleotide bases. Note that

the technique modeled does not sequence the DNA. The technique, DNA restriction analysis, provides

indirect evidence that sequence of DNA samples are the same or different from one another. If the

restriction enzymes cut the DNA sample into identical size fragments, the DNA samples are probably the

same. If the restriction enzymes cut the DNA samples into different size fragments, the DNA samples are

probably different.

Assessment

Give an index card to each student. Have them describe in their own words what they learned from the

activity and discuss briefly other applications for which DNA restriction analysis could be used.

Case of the Crown Jewels

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Case Of The Crown Jewels Template Page 8