STR Analysis

is an important term within the field of DNA testing. STR is an acronym for Short Tandem Repeats and is a means of making analysis of long convoluted DNA strands easier to analyze. Essentially, STRs are short repeated DNA sequences. The repeated sequences consist of what are known as base pairs. DNA can have 4 different base pairs, these being: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine.  An STR sequence might thus be a repetition of the ATAT (adenine-thymine) base pair. From one person to the next, the number of repeats may vary though this would only happen on some STR loci; a phenomenon which is not quite understood by scientists. These differences in STRs can help to locate differences between people.