Genetics and its applications in the study of evolution and in establishing kinship relationships between individuals have been advancing over time. While traditional methods relied on sequencing all the DNA to determine parentage, the Polymerase Chain Reaction, better known as PCR, allows us to obtain that information in just a few hours. <\/p>\n
When studying the kinship between two people, we must consider that 99.9% of their DNA will be the same simply because they belong to the same species. However, interspersed within the DNA strands, we can find small fractions known as hypervariable regions that show significant differences between different individuals as long as they are not related. <\/p>\n
During PCR or Polymerase Chain Reaction, this enzyme is capable of transcribing or creating millions of copies of those hypervariable regions to study them in detail, for example, by discriminating them by size. <\/p>\n
This is where the technique of agarose gel electrophoresis comes into play, widely used in all molecular biology laboratories. <\/p>\n
Agarose is an extract from algae that, when dissolved, forms a gelatinous matrix. The solution is carried out in a liquid medium of water\/buffer by heating, and once dissolved, it is poured into a mold in which a comb has been inserted, so that when the agarose matrix forms, small holes called “wells” remain. Each of the DNA samples to be analyzed is placed in a well. <\/p>\n
Next, the gel is subjected to an electric field, causing the negatively charged DNA to migrate towards the positive pole. During this migration, the gel acts as a microscopic sieve, allowing smaller DNA fragments to move quickly, while larger ones get stuck and migrate more slowly through the agarose matrix. After the necessary time has passed, the result is visualized using a UV light lamp, which allows the separated DNA fragments to be visualized thanks to the sieve effect of the agarose gel. The fragments closest to the loading point will be the largest, and the farthest will be the smallest, which have moved faster. <\/p>\n
The analysis of these fragments, their migration, their size, and the comparison between the different analyzed samples provide very valuable information: as in the mentioned case, whether or not there is kinship between the two individuals. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Genetics and its applications in the study of evolution and in establishing kinship relationships between individuals have been advancing over time. While traditional methods relied on sequencing all the DNA to determine parentage, the Polymerase Chain Reaction, better known as PCR, allows us to obtain that information in just a few hours. When studying the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n