Blood test versus DNA profiling?
ss9 asked:
For many years, tests for blood groups were done to determine paternity. In what ways do you think DNA profiling is more reliable than a blood test?
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For many years, tests for blood groups were done to determine paternity. In what ways do you think DNA profiling is more reliable than a blood test?
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dna paternity
Using blood typing doesn’t give you many options, for ABO there are only four possibilities A, B, AB and O. A child may or may not share a blood group with either of its parents e.g. consider a mother of group A and a father of group B – if their genotypes were AO and BO, then their children could have any blood group. Only by looking at the DNA can you tell how well blood groups match and then it is only one gene.
Using DNA profiling you can use several different loci and so you have far more chances to match a child to its potential father. Also, as the loci used are very variable, it is highly unlikely that a child will match to an individual who is not his or her father.
So, it is more reliable as it is more informative – but that doesn’t mean it is 100% perfect and errors are still possible.