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DNA and the balance between public safety and privacy: Podcast – The Journal News | LoHud.com

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A better DNA databank means more crimes solved, but how do you collect that DNA without infringing on privacy rights? In this episode of Crime Scene, we talk to Ray Wickenheiser, who runs the New York State Police Crime Lab, about how DNA evidence is

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In this file photo, a lab officer cuts a DNA fragment under UV light from an agarose gel for DNA sequencing.(Photo: AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

A better DNA databank means more crimes solved, but how do you collect that DNA without infringing on privacy rights?

In this episode of Crime Scene, we talk to Ray Wickenheiser, who runs the New York State Police Crime Lab, about how DNA evidence is collected and about the balance between security and privacy concerns.

We didn't mean to have a part two of last month's Crime Scene which looked at what it's like to be cleared of a rape and murder you didn't commit after decades in prison but Wickenheiser delivered such a master class on DNA evidence that we couldn't resist.

Lohud's Crime Scene podcast offers true crime stories tales of murder and mayhem, and the police who solve the most heinous crimes.

Here are previous episodes, in case you missed them:

Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/2mLrYPy

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DNA and the balance between public safety and privacy: Podcast - The Journal News | LoHud.com

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Researchers discover unique DNA editing function – Phys.Org

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March 21, 2017 Transcription from ultra-short deleted DNA segments is made possible by their concatenation and circularisation. Excised DNA segments are represented by pieces of train track. The RNA polymerase, represented by the train engine, can only proceed when segments are joined together. Credit: Sophie R. Allen, ICB, University of Bern

A species of unicellular ciliate has found a special trick to make use of the cellular machinery in seemingly impossible ways. Researchers at the University of Bern have for the first time described a mechanism in detail how so-called "junk DNA" is transcribed before being degraded and this mechanism is remarkably clever.

It sounds a bit like the winning proposal in a design contest: How can small pieces of information be read when they are too short to fit into the reading apparatus? Stitch them together into a longer string and close the string to produce a handy loop that can even be read off repeatedly. That's how a little organism called Paramecium tetraurelia, a species of unicellular ciliate, organises the transcription of small excised DNA segments into RNAs, which have a regulatory function.

But the story actually goes the other way round: When Mariusz Nowacki from the Institute of Cell Biology of the University of Bern found small RNAs with a regulatory function in the elimination of segments out of paramecium DNA, he and his team started to investigate the molecular mechanisms where do these RNAs come from, and what exactly is their role? They soon found out that there seems to be a sort of a feedback loop in the deletion of DNA segments. These, previously thought to be useless pieces of DNA, are cut out of the genome and then degraded by the cell machinery. However, before degradation, they serve as templates for small RNAs which in turn help with cutting out more of these DNA pieces. Once started, this pyramid system keeps reinforcing itself, via the production of RNA.

Transcribing the non-transcribable

As beautiful and intriguing as this system seemed to be, the researchers were left with a serious problem: Usually, the cellular transcription mechanism needs a much longer piece of DNA to operate. So how could these small excised DNA pieces of the length of not even 30 base pairs be used as templates? Without a good explanation for this, the whole theory looked very implausible. "It was an interesting detective work," Nowacki remembers. They had a suspect all they needed was to pin it down. "We were not actually looking for the unknown, because we soon had an idea, and then it was all about testing that idea." And their guess proved to be right: Paramecium has figured out a way to stitch DNA pieces together randomly into strings and, once the strings have the right length (of about 200 base pairs), to connect the ends and form circular concatemers of DNA segments.

Junk or not junk?

The finding has interesting implications: DNA thought to be non-coding "junk" of no use for the organism whatsoever and degraded quickly after being removed from the genome is actually a functional template for a biologically important class of small RNAs. It is actually one of the big emerging fields in molecular biology, whether "junk" DNA is really worthless or rather, as is increasingly becoming clear, whether it actually has regulatory functions. Nowacki believes that in this work his group was for the first time able to pin down a precise mechanism for the transcription of deleted "junk DNA" which would strengthen the case for an inevitable name change.

RNA & Disease The Role of RNA Biology in Disease Mechanisms

The research group studies a class of molecules that has long been neglected: RNA (ribonucleic acid) is pivotal for many vital processes and much more complex than initially assumed. For instance, RNA defines the conditions, in a given cell, under which a given gene is or is not activated. If any part of this process of genetic regulation breaks down or does not run smoothly, this can cause heart disease, cancer, brain disease and metabolic disorders.The NCCR brings together Swiss research groups studying different aspects of RNA biology in various organisms such as yeast, plants, roundworms, mice and human cells. Home institutions are the University of Bern and the ETH Zurich.

Explore further: 'Junk RNA' molecule found to play key role in cellular response to stress

More information: Sarah E. Allen et al. Circular Concatemers of Ultra-Short DNA Segments Produce Regulatory RNAs, Cell (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.02.020

Journal reference: Cell

Provided by: University of Bern

A study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has found a surprising role for what had been considered a nonfunctional "junk" RNA molecule: controlling the cellular response to stress. In their report in ...

In cells, DNA is transcribed into RNAs that provide the molecular recipe for cells to make proteins. Most of the genome is transcribed into RNA, but only a small proportion of RNAs are actually from the protein-coding regions ...

Much in the same way as we use shredders to destroy documents that are no longer useful or that contain potentially damaging information, cells use molecular machines to degrade unwanted or defective macromolecules. Scientists ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have called it "junk DNA." They have long been perplexed by these extensive strands of genetic material that dominate the genome but seem to lack specific functions. Why would nature force the ...

What used to be dismissed by many as "junk DNA" is back with a vengeance as growing data points to the importance of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs)genome's messages that do not code for proteinsin development and disease. ...

A study by researchers at the Yale Stem Cell Center for the first time demonstrates that piRNAs, a recently discovered class of tiny RNAs, play an important role in controlling gene function, it was reported this week in ...

Pop quiz: Are crocodiles more closely related to lizards or to birds? The answer may surprise you. Although traditional taxonomy classifies birds separately, they are actually closely related to crocodilians, sharing such ...

A promising vaccine target for the most deadly type of malaria has had its molecular structure solved by Institute researchers, helping in the quest to develop new antimalarial therapies.

New research supports the creation of more marine reserves in the world's oceans because, the authors say, fish can evolve to be more cautious and stay away from fishing nets.

A species of unicellular ciliate has found a special trick to make use of the cellular machinery in seemingly impossible ways. Researchers at the University of Bern have for the first time described a mechanism in detail ...

Trees and other plants, from towering redwoods to diminutive daisies, are nature's hydraulic pumps. They are constantly pulling water up from their roots to the topmost leaves, and pumping sugars produced by their leaves ...

A 20-year demographic study of a large chimpanzee community in Uganda's Kibale National Park has revealed that, under the right ecological conditions, our close primate relatives can lead surprisingly long lives in the wild.

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"a special trick to make use of the cellular machinery in seemingly impossible ways".

"this mechanism is remarkably clever".

"like the winning proposal in a design contest"

"beautiful and intriguing"

Read more at: https://phys.org/...html#jCp

Is that evidence of random, blind and irrational processes or of super-intelligent nano design?

"a special trick to make use of the cellular machinery in seemingly impossible ways".

"this mechanism is remarkably clever".

"like the winning proposal in a design contest"

"beautiful and intriguing"

Read more at: https://phys.org/...html#jCp

Is that evidence of random, blind and irrational processes or of super-intelligent nano design?

I suppose you can explain why the super-intelligent nano designer made so many mistakes then?

Sounds to me like they didn't know what they were doing. Of course a blind and irrational processes couldn't care less whether you get cancer or not.

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DNA labels predict mortality — ScienceDaily – Science Daily

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DNA labels predict mortality -- ScienceDaily
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Methyl labels in the DNA regulate the activity of our genes and, thus, have a great influence on health and disease. Scientists have now revealed that an altered ...

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Genetics has proven that you’re uniquejust like everyone else – Quartz

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Its often said that humans are 99.9% identical. and what makes us unique is a measly 0.1% of our genome. This may seem insignificant. But what these declarations fail to point out is that the human genome is made up of three billion base pairswhich means 0.1% is still equal to three million base pairs.

In those three million differences lie the changes that give you red hair instead of blonde, or green eyes instead of blue. You can find changes that increase your risk of obesity, or others that decrease your risk of heart disease; differences that make you taller or lactose intolerant, or allow you to run faster.

When I first started learning about genetic variation, I assumed these changesthe 0.1% that make us uniqueonly appeared in certain places, such as genes for height or inherited diseases like diabetes. I thought the rest of the genomethe other 99.9%was fixed; that the 0.1% that was different in me was more or less the same 0.1% that was different in you. But, as it turns out, the 0.1% of DNA that is different between people is not always the same 0.1%: Variation can happen anywhere in our genomes.

In fact, one group of scientists looking at 10,000 people found variants at 146 million unique positions, or about 4.8% of the genome. Another group collected the DNA from 15,000 people and found 254 million variants, roughly 8% of the genome. And as we continue to sequence 100,000, 100 million, or all seven billion people on the planet, we will find a lot more variation. This means that humans have many more differences than we first thought.

Imagine that your DNA is a car. There are certain obvious variants you can have: blue or white, two-door or four-door, convertible or sedan. These changes represent the 0.1%. Because the other 99.9%the engine, the seats, the steering wheel, the tireshas to be there for the car to work, we assume they are fixed.

But electric cars have shown us that we dont need the gas cap, the gas tank, or even a gas engine any more; we can replace those things with a variant like batteries and charging ports. And maybe one day well develop cars that have boosters instead of tires so we can hover over the ground.

In other words, what we believe is static may actually be variable. More than 0.1% of the car can change and it still be a car, just like the human genome.

With the rise of services that offer to sequence your DNA, more and more people are talking about the value of personal genomics and what you might uncover about yourself. These kinds of mail-in tests are an easy way to point to something tangiblelike your blue eyes or the waddle you and your grandmother shareand say It runs in the family. You might even say, Theres a gene for that!

But those examples of straight-forward, visible evidence are just starting points in the immense and only partially explored field of personal genomics. There are also many variations of our genomes that are invisible to the naked eye, like the way we metabolize caffeine, have a distaste for cilantro, or the more serious examples of predispositions toward certain types of cancers and diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

There are also all sorts of other gene variants we havent discovered yet. Because our data is limited by the amount of sequenced DNA available for study, scientists like myself have only explored a small portion of the genetic variation that exists in the world.

As access to personal genomics becomes a more practical option and more people opt in to research, this data pool grows every day. This means our theories will become much less theoretical in the months and years to come, and it soon wont be surprising to discover theres a gene for almost every trait.

So what does all this variation actually mean? What do we learn by cataloging all this information?

The consequences of sequencing millions of peoples DNA and identifying new genetic variants are both simultaneously predictable and unknown. On the predictable side, we are going to learn a lot more about human health and disease: Individual genetic variants and groups of genetic variants will be found to play a role in obesity, heart disease, and cancer, among other factors. We are going to find genetic variants responsible for rare diseases that have gone undiagnosed.

But its the unknown findings that get me excited. We dont know how many unique variants we will find. And while our current understanding of biology suggests some positions in DNA are not variable (because any change in these genes disrupts the basic function of being human), we may discover that these positions actually are variable and can change. Were also getting to a point where we will be able to better study the role of environmentwhat you are exposed to, the things you choose to eat, the activities you decided to engage inand how it interacts with your DNA. With this information, we will be able to better make predictions about you as an individual.

There is still so much for us to discover about human genetic variation. A variant that increases risk for a disease today might turn out to be protective for another disease tomorrow. The more people who get their DNA sequencedwhether for personal or research purposesthe more we will discover.

We each carry three billion base pairs of information inside us with the potential to unravel a piece of the mystery that makes us all so fundamentally human. At the end of the day, we are all still more similar than we are differentbut we are just beginning to understand how important our differences are.

Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas.We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

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Structural knowledge of the DNA repair complex – Phys.Org

Posted: at 11:24 am

March 21, 2017 by Lisbeth Heilesen A model for monitoring and repairing damaged DNA (left figure). The crystal structure of the DNA control protein Rad26 that is responsible for bringing the Rad3 kinase to damaged DNA and starting repair signalling (right figure). Credit: Kasper Rjkjr Andersen

New Danish research provides mechanistic insight into how DNA is monitored and repaired if damage occurs. The results may eventually help to improve the treatment of certain types of cancer, as the DNA repair complex provides a mechanism for cancer cells to resist chemotherapy.

Our DNA is constantly exposed to damage and to protect the genome, cells have evolved mechanisms that monitor and repair these damages. Our structural knowledge of the protein complexes that monitor DNA has so far been limited. New research now describes the structure and organisation of the DNA controls protein Rad26 and shows how the kinase Rad3 is recruited to sites of damaged DNA.

To maintain the genome integrity, DNA damages have to be monitored and repaired. The first step in this process is orchestrated by the Rad3 kinase. Rad26 is a functional subunit of Rad3-rad26 DNA repair complex and is responsible for bringing the kinase to sites of DNA damage, but the mechanism behind kinase recruitment and structural knowledge of how this complete is organized has until now been unclear.

New results from Aarhus reveal the crystal structure of Rad26 and identify the elements that are important for recruiting Rad3 kinase. Rad26 is a dimer with a conserved interface in the N-terminal part of the protein. Biochemical data demonstrated that Rad26 uses its C-terminal domain and a conserved motif to recruit Rad3. From the in vitro reconstituted Rad3-Rad26 complex, small-angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopic studies, it is possible to model the quaternary structure and thus bring us closer to a mechanistic understanding Rad3-Rad26 DNA repair apparatus.

Rad3 signalling ensures that cells do not divide before DNA damages are repaired and thus provides cancer cells with a mechanism to resist chemotherapy by repairing these DNA damages. Our new structural knowledge will help the development of Rad3 inhibitors that make cancer cells more susceptible to chemotherapy and this new treatment is now being tested in clinical trials.

The study is published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Explore further: Researchers probe a DNA repair enzyme

More information: Kasper Rjkjr Andersen. Insights into Rad3 kinase recruitment from the crystal structure of the DNA damage checkpoint protein Rad26, Journal of Biological Chemistry (2017). DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M117.780189

Researchers have taken the first steps toward understanding how an enzyme repairs DNA. Enzymes called helicases play a key role in human health, according to Maria Spies, a University of Illinois biochemistry professor.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a molecular mechanism that reads so-called epigenetic information and boosts repair of lesions in our DNA. This knowledge can be used to develop new targeted cancer ...

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the worst possible form of genetic malfunction that can cause cancer and resistance to therapy. New information published this week reveals more about why this occurs and how these breaks ...

The occurrence of chemotherapy resistance is one of the major reasons for failure in cancer treatment. A study led by scar Fernndez-Capetillo, Head of the Genomic Instability Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research ...

A protein that helps embryonic stem cells (ESCs) retain their identity also promotes DNA repair, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. The findings raise the possibility that the protein, Sall4, performs a ...

A group of researchers at Osaka University found that if DNA damage response (DDR) does not work when DNA is damaged by radiation, proteins which should be removed remain instead, and a loss of genetic information can be ...

University of Sydney researchers have used infrared spectroscopy to spotlight changes in tiny cell fragments called microvesicles to probe their role in a model of the body's immunological response to bacterial infection.

Zinc is a vital micronutrient involved in many cellular processes: For example, in learning and memory processes, it plays a role that is not yet understood. By using nanoelectrochemical measurements, Swedish researchers ...

Whether inside your laptop computer or storing energy outside wind farms, we need high-capacity, long-lasting, and safe batteries. In batteries, as in any electrochemical device, critical processes happen where the electrolyte ...

Photoreceptors in vertebrates typically consist of two separate colourless parts: an organic pigment and a protein. Combined, they create a colourful, light-sensitive molecule called an iminium ion that triggers vision upon ...

Borrowing from nature is an age-old theme in science. Form and function go hand-in-hand in the natural world and the structures created by plants and animals are only rarely improved on by humans.

Prion diseases are scary, incurable and fatal. They first gained notoriety when cows became infected by prion proteins and, in turn, infected people. Fervor surrounding mad cow disease resulted in the U.S. banning imports ...

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Pocahontas Heacham mulberry tree legend faces DNA test – BBC News

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Pocahontas Heacham mulberry tree legend faces DNA test
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She was famed as a colonial peacemaker - but now DNA analysis is to be used to test part of the 400-year-old legend of when Pocahontas came to England. After helping save a colonialist's life the Native American travelled to England in 1616 with ...

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DNA concerns – Jamaica Gleaner

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Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

My father went through the process of filing for my brothers and I. However, my DNA results showed that we are not related by blood. My father has not disowned me and still wants me to be near him.

What steps can be taken so that I can be able to live in America with my father? I am now 23 years old.

- MG

Dear MG,

I am so sorry that you had to learn that the man you have known and loved as your father all your life is not your biological father. This happens on occasions and is the reason an unwed father filing for a son or daughter; or a US citizen son or daughter filing for their father, presents a higher level of scrutiny before approval.

If a child is born out of wedlock, i.e., the mother and father were not legally married at the time of the child's birth; and the mother and father never married before the child was 18 years old and the father is filing for his son or daughter - or the son or daughter is filing for the father - proof has to be submitted to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that a parent-child relationship existed before the child was 18 years old.

Every case is different and will produce different types of proof. Sometimes it is easy because all the parties lived together and can prove this fact, and others are more difficult because the child never lived with the father.

One of the other levels of proof that USCIS requires with out-of-wedlock children is that the parent and child voluntarily submit to a DNA test to prove the biological relationship. Such tests have to be conducted by The Department of Homeland Security-approved facilities.

When the DNA results indicate that the parent and child are not biologically related, the petition can go no further. However, if the petitioner is a parent, and the beneficiary child is under age 16 and the child and supposed parent lived together for at least two years, the parent can adopt the child and refile a petition as an adoptive parent.

In your case, your father will not be able to continue the petition. If you are able, you can seek to study in the United States and apply for a student visa; or if you are eligible, you can seek a work permit (H1-B visa) to live and work in the United States for up to three years. If your brothers are now permanent residents, under current immigration law when they become US citizens one of them can file a petition for you - if you are related through your mother. While that is a very long waiting period for a green card, at least someday you and your family can all be together.

- Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and personal injury law in Florida. She is a mediator, arbitrator and special magistrate in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com

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UCLA researchers make DNA detection portable, affordable using cellphones – UCLA Newsroom

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Researchers at UCLA have developed an improved method to detect the presence of DNA biomarkers of disease that is compatible with use outside of a hospital or lab setting. The new technique leverages the sensors and optics of cellphones to read light produced by a new detector dye mixture that reports the presence of DNA molecules with a signal that is more than 10-times brighter.

Nucleic acids, such as DNA or RNA, are used in tests for infectious diseases, genetic disorders, cancer mutations that can be targeted by specific drugs, and fetal abnormality tests. The samples used in standard diagnostic tests typically contain only tiny amounts of a diseases related nucleic acids. To assist optical detection, clinicians amplify the number of nucleic acids making them easier to find with the fluorescent dyes.

Both the amplification and the optical detection steps have in the past required costly and bulky equipment, largely limiting their use to laboratories.

In a study published onlinein the journal ACS Nano, researchers from three UCLA entities the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, the California NanoSystems Institute, and the David Geffen School of Medicine showed how to take detection out of the lab and for a fraction of the cost.

The collaborative team of researchers included lead author Janay Kong, a UCLA Ph.D. student in bioengineering; Qingshan Wei, a post-doctoral researcher in electrical engineering; Aydogan Ozcan, Chancellors Professor of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering; Dino Di Carlo, professor of bioengineering and mechanical and aerospace engineering; andOmai Garner, assistant professor of pathology and medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

The UCLA researchers focused on the challenges with low-cost optical detection. Small changes in light emitted from molecules that associate with DNA, called intercalator dyes, are used to identify DNA amplification, but these dyes are unstable and their changes are too dim for standard cellphone camera sensors.

But the team discovered an additive that stabilized the intercalator dyes and generated a large increase in fluorescent signal above the background light level, enabling the test to be integrated with inexpensive cellphone based detection methods. The combined novel dye/cellphone reader system achieved comparable results to equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars more.

To adapt a cellphone to detect the light produced from dyes associated with amplified DNA while those samples are in standard laboratory containers, such as well plates, the team developed a cost-effective, field-portable fiber optic bundle. The fibers in the bundle routed the signal from each well in the plate to a unique location of the camera sensor area. This handheld reader is able to provide comparable results to standard benchtop readers, but at a fraction of the cost, which the authors suggest is a promising sign that the reader could be applied to other fluorescence-based diagnostic tests.

Currently nucleic acid amplification tests have issues generating a stable and high signal, which often necessitates the use of calibration dyes and samples which can be limiting for point-of-care use, Di Carlo said. The unique dye combination overcomes these issues and is able to generate a thermally stable signal, with a much higher signal to noise ratio. The DNA amplification curves we see look beautiful without any of the normalization and calibration, which is usually performed, to get to the point that we start at.

Additionally, the authors emphasized that the dye combinations discovered should be able to be used universally to detect any nucleic acid amplification, allowing for their use in a multitude of other amplification approaches and tests.

The team demonstrated the approach using a process called loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or LAMP, with DNA from lambda phage as the target molecule, as a proof of concept, and now plan to adapt the assay to complex clinical samples and nucleic acids associated with pathogens such as influenza.

The newest demonstration is part of a suite of technologies aimed at democratizing disease diagnosis developed by the UCLA team. Including low-cost optical readout and diagnostics based on consumer-electronic devices,microfluidic-based automation andmolecular assays leveraging DNA nanotechnology.

This interdisciplinary work was supported through a team science grant from the National Science Foundation Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation program.

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Salt Creek: Saliva DNA on backpacker’s body matched to accused – ABC Online

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Updated March 21, 2017 16:19:17

Saliva from a man accused of sexually assaulting a Brazilian backpacker, and brutally attacking her friend at Salt Creek, was found on the woman's bikini bottoms and body, a forensic scientist has told the Supreme Court.

The 60-year-old South Australian man who cannot be identified is on trial for charges including aggravated kidnapping, indecent assault and attempted murder.

It is alleged the man sexually assaulted the Brazilian woman at a remote and isolated beach in the Coorong National Park in February 2016 then attacked her friend, a German backpacker who came to her aid.

Forensic scientist Duncan Taylor from Forensic Science SA, told the jury analysis of swabs taken from the Brazilian woman's breasts, neck and face as well as her bikini bottoms tested positive for saliva.

He said analysis showed the saliva matched the accused man's DNA at likelihood ratios in the billions and millions.

Dr Taylor agreed with several possible scenarios about how the saliva could have been transferred including licking, but also agreed when questioned by the defence that being in close proximity to someone in a confined space like a car could result in a DNA transfer.

He said it was not possible for him to determine how the DNA was deposited.

The last witness for the prosecution case was an electronic crime expert from SA Police, Detective Brevet Sergeant Jeremy Handley, who gave evidence of the analysis of the contents of the accused's iPhone and laptop.

He said there were 95 pornographic images found on the laptop including images depicting naked or semi-naked women with mouth gags and their hands and feet tied.

He also said phonographic videos were found on the man's phone as well as still images taken from those videos that depicted women wearing mouth gags and with their arms and legs bound.

The court heard internet search terms found on the man's computer included "women being brutally raped", "sex fetish", "brutal rape scenes of women" and "hardcore women being raped".

Dr Taylor also told the court blood found all over the accused's four-wheel-drive including the bonnet and roof matched the German woman's DNA at a likelihood ratio of greater than 100 billion.

The court heard "blood drops" or stains found on the accused's top and jeans also matched the German woman's DNA at the same likelihood ratio.

Dr Taylor said the man's shirt had many blood stains.

"It displayed heavy blood-like staining on the front of the shirt and more blood-like staining on the rear of the shirt," he said.

The court heard the German woman's DNA was also matched to blood stains on the handle of a shovel.

Prosecutor Jim Pearce QC has closed the prosecution case.

Defence lawyer Bill Boucaut SC said no witnesses would be called for the defence.

The trial will progress to closing addresses on Wednesday.

Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, crime, sexual-offences, adelaide-5000, sa

First posted March 21, 2017 14:17:20

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Phys.org – genome

Posted: at 11:23 am

News tagged with genome New software tools streamline DNA sequence design-and-build process

Synthetic DNA allows scientists to expand the breadth and depth of their genomic research. In this study researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) have developed a suite of build-optimization ...

A team of Hokkaido University researchers has discovered a hitherto-unknown mechanism that detains transposable elements or "mobile genes" - which can move and insert into new positions in plant genomes.

EPFL scientists have carried out a genomic and evolutionary study of a large and enigmatic family of human proteins, to demonstrate that it is responsible for harnessing the millions of transposable elements in the human ...

A new study by G. William Arends Professor of Microbiology at the University of Illinois Bill Metcalf with postdoctoral Fellow Dipti Nayak has documented the use of CRISPR-Cas9 mediated genome editing in the third domain ...

Meteorologists strive to predict the weather. Network scientists develop complex algorithms to predict the spread of disease. Might it also be possible to predict the emergence of scientific discoveries? If the answer is ...

Dwindling populations created a "mutational meltdown" in the genomes of the last wooly mammoths, which had survived on an isolated island until a few thousand years ago. Rebekah Rogers and Montgomery Slatkin of the University ...

In an age of booming biotechnology, it might be easy to forget how much we still rely on the bounty of the natural world. Some microbes make us sick, some keep us healthy, while others continue to give us some of our best ...

The National Academies of Science and Medicine (NASEM) released a report on Feb. 14 exploring the implications of new technologies that can alter the genome of living organisms, including humans.

Bioengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new tool to identify interactions between RNA and DNA molecules. The tool, called MARGI (Mapping RNA Genome Interactions), is the first technology that's ...

Gene transfers are particularly common in the antibiotic-resistance genes of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.

In classical genetics, the genome of a diploid organism including eukarya refers to a full set of chromosomes or genes in a gamete; thereby, a regular somatic cell contains two full sets of genomes. In haploid organisms, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and mitochondria, a cell contains only a single set of the genome, usually in a single circular or contiguous linear DNA (or RNA for retroviruses). In modern molecular biology the genome of an organism is its hereditary information encoded in DNA (or, for retroviruses, RNA).

The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA. The term was adapted in 1920 by Hans Winkler, Professor of Botany at the University of Hamburg, Germany. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests the name to be a portmanteau of the words gene and chromosome; however, many related -ome words already existed, such as biome and rhizome, forming a vocabulary into which genome fits systematically.

More precisely, the genome of an organism is a complete genetic sequence on one set of chromosomes; for example, one of the two sets that a diploid individual carries in every somatic cell. The term genome can be applied specifically to mean that stored on a complete set of nuclear DNA (i.e., the "nuclear genome") but can also be applied to that stored within organelles that contain their own DNA, as with the mitochondrial genome or the chloroplast genome. Additionally, the genome can comprise nonchromosomal genetic elements such as viruses, plasmids, and transposable elements. When people say that the genome of a sexually reproducing species has been "sequenced", typically they are referring to a determination of the sequences of one set of autosomes and one of each type of sex chromosome, which together represent both of the possible sexes. Even in species that exist in only one sex, what is described as "a genome sequence" may be a composite read from the chromosomes of various individuals. In general use, the phrase "genetic makeup" is sometimes used conversationally to mean the genome of a particular individual or organism. The study of the global properties of genomes of related organisms is usually referred to as genomics, which distinguishes it from genetics which generally studies the properties of single genes or groups of genes.

Both the number of base pairs and the number of genes vary widely from one species to another, and there is little connection between the two (an observation known as the C-value paradox). At present, the highest known number of genes is around 60,000, for the protozoan causing trichomoniasis (see List of sequenced eukaryotic genomes), almost three times as many as in the human genome.

An analogy to the human genome stored on DNA is that of instructions stored in a book:

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Phys.org - genome

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