Opinion ID: 1296847
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Misincorporation.

Text: This occurs when the Taq polymerase enzyme makes mistakes in pairing the bases that form the rungs of the DNA ladder. Misincorporation occurs very rarely (once or twice every 20,000 to 1 million bases) and usually at random. Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress, Genetic Witness: Forensic Uses of DNA Tests 70 (1990); DNA Technology, at 64. One authority states that misincorporation does not create problems in DNA sequencing analysis or probe typing of PCR-amplified DNA ..., because the entire population of molecules is being examined, not a single molecule. Genetic Witness, at 70. The article then adds, however, that misincorporation of nucleotides could be an issue if the initial amount of DNA is minute. Genetic Witness, at 70. Because there is no way to predict which PCR assays will be subject to misincorporation, each assay must be thoroughly characterized. DNA Technology, at 64. Dr. Geraghty testified that he saw no likelihood of a false result occurring because of misincorporation since it is easily detected, and added that he had never seen misincorporation occur in the thousands of tests that have been done. Verbatim Report on Appeal, at 229-31.