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Old 04-17-2008, 11:39 AM
RACooper RACooper is offline
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Depends on the DNA testing done - LCN (Low Copy Number) DNA tests are about as exact as fingerprints, but it isn't perfectly exact since it uses "partial" result to identify people; but it's popular since it can be used with very minute examples. Whereas an STR (Short Tandem Repeat) DNA tests need more of a sample to work with, but are incredibly exact with matches equal to something like 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 - in other words there is on only a 1 in a quintillion chance that the DNA profile matches some one else (good odds considering that humanity hasn't even come close to a quintillion individuals in the sum of our existence).

Basically the more loci needed to be declared a "match" the better since it significantly decreases the odds of a "mis-match" - the US uses 13 loci which puts it at the top of the list for standards of identification.
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