The generation from a sample of DNA of a set of DNA fragments that are characteristic of that sample. DNA fingerprints can thus enable individuals, strains, species, etc. to be distinguished by variations in the base sequence of their genomes. Various techniques can be used to detect such variations, depending on the organism being studied, existing knowledge of the organism’s genome, etc. These include analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) and techniques based on the polymerase chain reaction, such as simple sequence repeat analysis, rapidly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis, and amplified fragment length polymorphism. See also dna profiling.