ABOUT YOUR DNA

DNA contains all the information needed to build your body. Did you know that your DNA determines things such as your eye color, hair color, height, and even the size of your nose?

In all living things, DNA is essential for inheritance, coding for proteins, and providing instructions for life and its processes. DNA dictates how a human or animal develops and reproduces, and eventually dies. Human cells normally contain 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46 chromosomes in each cell.

(Initially the term "nuclein" was later changed to "nucleic acid" and eventually to "deoxyribonucleic acid," or "DNA cells).

DNA is contained in blood, semen, skin cells, tissue, organs, muscle, brain cells, bone, teeth, hair, saliva, mucus, perspiration, fingernails, urine, feces, etc. Where can DNA evidence be found at a crime scene? DNA evidence can be collected from virtually anywhere.

Blood is an excellent source of DNA, the DNA does not come from the red blood cells, as these cells have no nuclei.