Scientists Learn To Fabricate DNA Evidence

Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that it is possible to fabricate blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor, and even to construct a sample of DNA to match someone's profile without obtaining any tissue from that person — if you have access to their DNA profile in a database. This undermines the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases. 'You can just engineer a crime scene,' said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper. 'Any biology undergraduate could perform this.' The scientists fabricated DNA samples in two ways. One requires a real, if tiny, DNA sample, perhaps from a strand of hair or a drinking cup. They amplified the tiny sample into a large quantity of DNA using a standard technique called whole genome amplification. The other technique relies on DNA profiles, stored in law enforcement databases as a series of numbers and letters corresponding to variations at 13 spots in a person's genome. The scientists cloned tiny DNA snippets representing the common variants at each spot, creating a library of such snippets. To prepare a phony DNA sample matching any profile, they just mixed the proper snippets together. Tania Simoncelli, science adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union, says the findings were worrisome. 'DNA is a lot easier to plant at a crime scene than fingerprints,' says Simoncelli. 'We're creating a criminal justice system that is increasingly relying on this technology.'"

Comments

Re:And I'll be the first to say:

[Anonymous Coward]

Careful with that, you might leave an incriminating DNA sample.

I guess

[LucidBeast]

they have to rewrite next season of CSI because of this

Re:I guess

[pyrrhonist]

Looks like the writers just...
puts on sunglasses
...soiled their genes.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

Much easier than I thought.

[hotdiggity]

The scientists cloned tiny DNA snippets representing the common variants at each spot, creating a library of such snippets. To prepare a phony DNA sample matching any profile, they just mixed the proper snippets together.

Really? It's that easy? God, I'm an idiot. After I cloned the tiny snippets of the common variants, creating my library, I just sat there staring at them and thinking "What the hell do I do now?"

Re:Much easier than I thought.

[Pessimist Cynic]

Hey, I just had the craziest idea.

Convert any binary file to base 4 and then convert that to:
0 = A, 1 = T, 2 = G, 3 = C
Or something like that.

And then order a vial of it from one of these companies.
Now you can finally keep all the porn you want inside a tiny container much smaller than a hard drive.
Kind of impractical to access it, granted, but still.
Would it work, or would the "just mix it" part really mix it?
(please reply quickly, I'm running out of hard drive space)

Re:Much easier than I thought.

[mrboyd]

You can already keep all the porn you want in DNA form. It's called a girlfriend*.


* or boyfriend or whatever floats your boat (within legal limit of your country of residence)

Re:Much easier than I thought.

[R2.0]

"You can already keep all the porn you want in DNA form. It's called a girlfriend*."

Show me the girlfriend who demonstrates ALL the porn you want, and I'll show you the picture of Elliot Spitzer right beside her in the NY Post.

Re:And I'll be the first to say:

[interkin3tic]

This doesn't change much, it's still much easier for "them" to frame you by drugging you and leaving you at the scene of a murder, then anonymously tipping the authorities off. Just like they did to OJ to try to prevent another "Naked Gun" from being made.

("They" may be completely evil, but you can't fault their sense of humor.)

Re:It all becomes clear...

[anarchyboy]

You go through all the trouble of collecting their DNA samples and then arrest them based on their domain lookups? seems a bit convoluted

Re:So let me get this straight.

[Eudial]

In order to 'engineer' a crime scene, to incriminate somebody by planting fake DNA, the first thing I need it a real, if tiny, DNA sample, perhaps from a strand of hair or a drinking cup. Then I use that to fake some DNA, which I place at the scene.

So can somebody tell my WTF, if I already have some legitimate DNA from the person I'm attempting to frame, I wouldn't just place that at the crime scene instead?

It helps to have the right sort of DNA. Say you want to frame someone for robbery, and you have their semen -- I guess you could argue that they are obsessive chronic masturbators and that's why their semen is all over the crime scene -- but otherwise, it would arguably raise less suspicion to find other sources of DNA.

Re:And I'll be the first to say:

[Yetihehe]

Alibi for perfect crime: get a job in cotton bud factory.