DNA is a new tool in the genealogical toolbox that many researchers want to include in their search for their ancestors. It can be a helpful addition to your records research but it won’t tell you who your ancestors are. Let’s talk about DNA and it’s’ usefulness in genealogy research.
When you get a DNA test from one of the genealogy testing companies, such as Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast, etc., you may be taking a spit test or a cheek swab. You then send back the sample which the company analyzes and post results on your DNA page you can view. See our earlier post on DNA.
In this post, let’s talk about some definitions of terms you will come across when you talk about DNA. In a future post, we will use these terms to discuss ethnicity estimates and matches and how you can use them in your research.
DNA – Deoxyribonucleic acid is the molecule that carries genetic information for the development and functioning of an organism.
Genome – all the genetic information of an organism
Reference panel – the DNA of people with long family histories from specific parts of the world used to compare with your sample to generate an ethnicity estimate.
Ethnicity estimates – comparing your DNA to a reference panel to determine where your ancestors lived.
Haplogroup – a genetic group of people who share a common ancestor on the patriline or the matriline.
Autosomal – DNA tests looking at chromosome pairs 1–22 and the X part of the 23rd chromosome. The autosomes (chromosome pairs 1–22) are inherited from both parents and all recent ancestors. Most will take this type of test.
Y-DNA – passed down from father to son. Y-DNA test can only be taken by males to explore their direct paternal line.
mtDNA – passed down from mother to child. mtDNA test can be taken by both males and females, and it explores direct maternal line.
Single-nucleotide polymorphisms – SNPs “snips” are markers inherited from your ancestors. Remember you inherit half of your markers from each parent, about a quarter from each grandparent, and an eighth from each great-grandparent, etc.
There are many more terms used in DNA research, but these will get you started. Next time we will discuss ethnicity estimates.
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