DNA fingerprinting is so different from whole-genome characterization that it's hardly worth comparing them. DNA fingerprinting involves: * Sequence amplifica

DNA fingerprinting is so different from whole-genome characterization that it's hardly worth comparing them. DNA fingerprinting involves: * Sequence amplification of polymorphic sites by a panel of well-characterized primers, many of which cross-check each other by amplifying over the same locus. * These amplicons are then characterized by size via restriction digest and simple electrophoresis. No sequencing is performed, only the length of the DNA fragments is characterized. * Due to population-level variation of short-tandem repeats, analysis of ~20 loci can uniquely identify an individual with a desired level of statistical confidence. The kind of data used to confirm a match in e.g. a murder trial will be absurdly robust. DNA fingerprinting is limited by the quality of sample collection and handling (i.e. don't mix up or contaminate samples), but not the accuracy of the method.