The genetic fingerprint is also called DNA profile; the process is known as DNA fingerprinting. The basis of the genetic fingerprint is DNA. On this basis the genetic fingerprint, exactly like a fingerprint, is unique for each individual. This is an ideal foundation to convict a suspect or prove a suspect to be innocent. DNA is a double helix and consists of the four building blocks adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. It is present in skin cells or body fluids like sperm or saliva. Only a small portion of DNA is different from person to person and exactly this part makes every human unique and individual.
The procedure of genetic fingerprinting was discovered accidentally by a British geneticist, Sir Alex John Jeffreys in the year 1984. Four years later, in 1988, it was approved for the first time in a criminal trial before a court in Germany.
To get valuable information from DNA it must first be disassembled. The non-coding regions of the DNA are the basis for the procedure.
EVISCAN provides a big advantage for the user in comparison to other methods for preserving traces. Here, a possible DNA will not be destroyed while the fingerprint is preserved and can also be secured. Therefore, a decision between preserving a fingerprint and a DNA trace is not necessary.
