Reply #3: Okay...

[LibLabUK]

People need to learn what the difference between the DNA samples collected and processed as evidence and DNA samples collected for research.

DNA fingerprints, the things admissable in court, are of little to no use in research (of the genetic engineering kind).. they don't reveal information such as sequencing which would be of use to a pharmaceutical company researcher or molecular biologist.

A DNA fingerprint consists of bands on a gel. The bands correspond to fragments of DNA cleaved using enzymes. Individuals have differing patterns of banding based on the proportions of different fragments within their total DNA.

You cannot tell anything about an individual from looking at the bands on a gel, and so the information stored within these police databases are useless for genetic research. You can however see familial links (you'd be able to tell parents, siblings etc... due to the high number of corresponding bands).

The effort that goes into sequencing DNA, that is working out in what order the four components of DNA (Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine) are in a complete gene (let alone an entire genome) is quite staggering and would not be practicable to perform on the numbers of samples that would be collected by the police.