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From: "Janet" <>
Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] Genetics 101 for genealogy
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:39:39 -0000
References: <2dff56a0801271054v5fcbf0e0y17969d4991fc82d0@mail.gmail.com><170c01c86118$26a424a0$0200a8c0@dell8400> <005101c86191$19e5c560$3601a8c0@oemcomputer><006001c8619f$898ccea0$0200a8c0@dell8400><479DD40C.6080006@blueyonder.co.uk>


I am aware of the X and Y chromosomes and I didnt want to delve into genetics too deeply.
Mine was a wild thought however, to bring out more information, and it did. ;-) I think otherwise you will agree so far as I'm concerned, I'm s******. Thanks. My guess is that the Lab or Firm that does the DNA testing might have some strict rules or requirements about receipt of overseas DNA samples.

Janet



----- Original Message -----
From: "Louise Park" <>


>I think perhaps we need to explain more simply what can be done with DNA
> testing.
>
> What you are calling maternal DNA - which is tested in tracing the
> maternal line - is mitochondrial DNA. For those without an in-depth
> knowledge of biology, these mitochondria are a structure within almost
> all our cells. The DNA in mitochondria ONLY comes from your own mother
> (that applies whether you are male or female) because mitochondria are
> not present in sperm cells, so the father cannot transmit this type of DNA.
>
> The Paternal line is traced using y-DNA - this is the DNA that is
> present in Y chromosomes, which only genetic males and a very few women
> with XXY (or similar chromosomal abnormalities) have.
>
> These techniques are very different from the type of screening that is
> done in say paternity tests as seen on the likes of Jeremy Kyle's show -
> these tests screen the genomic DNA, of which 50% comes from the mother,
> and 50% from the father. These are pretty well useless in genealogy
> unless you are trying to prove whether your have the same father as a
> sibling.
>
> So to answer Janet's question - no, testing of your mitochondrial DNA
> would not reveal anything of your mother's putative father's DNA.
> However, if there was a confirmed child of your mother's putative
> father, they and your mother's DNA (if both were still alive) could be
> tested to see whether they had the same father using genomic DNA.
>
> I shouldn't think that swabs would "go off" between the USA and Oxford -
> after all, they can do DNA testing of samples that are decades old (and
> more)!


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