2025 NSTA Philadelphia • EDVOTEK® Workshops

DNA Detective: Reuniting Families with DNA Fingerprinting and Electrophoresis

Results and Analysis

1 2 3 4 5 6

LANE TUBE

SAMPLE

Standard Dye Markers Mother 1 Mother 2

Tube A Tube B Tube C Tube D Tube E Tube F

1 2 3 4 5 6

3,500 1,500 800 450

B1

Y2

R Y2 P P

R R

B2

P

Boy 1 Boy 2 Father

B3

Y1

Y1

Y1

After running gel electrophoresis on the DNA samples, the results revealed the key to unlocking the boys’ true parentage! The colored bands on the gel represent different DNA fragments, helping us match each child to their biological parents.

BREAKING DOWN THE RESULTS:

Boy 1 (Lane 4) is the child of Mother 2 (Lane 3) and the deceased father. • His lower yellow band matches Mother 2’s yellow band, confirming maternity. • None of his bands match the surviving father, meaning his biological father must be the deceased one. Boy 2 (Lane 5) is the child of Mother 1 (Lane 2) and the surviving father (Lane 6). • His purple band matches Mother 1’s purple band, confirming maternity. • His red band matches the father’s red band, confirming paternity.

By carefully analyzing the banding patterns, we’ve used forensic science to reunite the boys with their biological parents—just like real DNA detectives!

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