DNA fingerprinting is discovered by

The correct answer is Alec Jeffreys

Explanation:

• DNA fingerprinting was developed by Alec Jeffreys in 1984.
• It is based on DNA polymorphism.
• Humans are almost 99.9% identical and the rest 0.1% constitutes about 3 million differences in our genome.
• DNA polymorphism - These are inheritable mutations that occur at a high frequency in a population.
• Such variations occur frequently in non-coding DNA sequences and keep accumulating over generations.
• These mutations are the basis of variability or polymorphism in a population.
• Satellite DNA shows high degree of polymorphism and hence, was used by Jeffreys for DNA fingerprinting.
• The DNA probes used were VNTRs.
• VNTR- Variable Number of Tandem Repeats or VNTRs are composed of 8-80 bp sequences which are tandemly repeated to form 1-30kb length of DNA.

Procedure:

1. Isolation of DNA
2. Digestion of DNA by restriction endonuclease
3. Separation of DNA fragments by gel electrophoresis
4. Transferring of separated DNA fragments to synthetic membranes like nylon and nitrocellulose - Southern Blotting technique
5. Hybridization by using radio-labelled VNTR probes.
6. Detection of hybridized DNA fragments by autoradiography.

Other Options:

• Thomas Morgan: Thomas Hunt Morgan was an American geneticist and evolutionary biologist who is best known for his work on the role chromosomes play in heredity. He discovered the white-eyed mutation in fruit flies which led to the establishment of the chromosome theory of inheritance.
• Sutton: Walter Sutton was an American geneticist who independently proposed the chromosome theory of inheritance, which states that chromosomes carry the cell's units of inheritance.
• Meselson: Matthew Meselson, along with Franklin Stahl, is known for the Meselson-Stahl experiment which provided evidence for the semi-conservative replication of DNA.