How accurate was DNA testing fingerprints ect. in 1991?

Answer 1

DNA Testing and fingerprint comparison was largely done by comparing the results by hand, as opposed to computers.

When comparison by computers came into the picture, accuracy skyrocketed.

Answer 2

it all depends on the number of tests run. DNA finger printing involves testing repeat segments and there a a number of different ones that can be tested. The repeats will be different for each person so lets say in my test my DNA runs the repeat 35 times. In testing we have found that the repeat can be done as few as 10 times and as many as 550 times. That means my 35 is 1 of 540 possible results. SO it comes down to the number of different repeat segments tested. For example if you test only one set then the test produces a result of lets say 1 in a 100 not that good but if you test a second one and it is also 1 in a 100 that takes you to 1 in 10,000 which is better and so on and so on. So it really depends on how many they tested. the mroe they test the better the accuracy. They were statistically working in the neighborhood of 1 in a few billion which is pretty awesome.

The catch is in 1991 they did not realize there were patterns. For example if you are lets say mexican on a test that for an asian that works out to be 1 in 100 we have found that some groups are narrower so for example of the 100 different possible out comes mexicans only produce 50 of them so in reality for a mexican it is 1 in 50 not 1 in 100. This varies for every possible test so the more you do the better your results. Now it is starting to be factored into DNA testing so when they said 99.99999% sure in 1991 they really were only 99.999% Huge difference huh.

Answer 3

very