GENETIC GENEALOGY
62Genetic genealogy is the greatest addition to Genealogy since the creation of the Family Tree. The Family Tree DNA testing is its ability to help find Genetic Cousins, blood lineage and fill the gap on our family brick wall. And questions like, who were our parents' parents? Where did their families come from? What were the important events in their lives? Can be answered by Genetic Genealogy.
And tracking down our ancestors has become a rewarding and a challenging pastime. And now with the great progress in technology, even the Internet and e-mail can help, giving us access, from the comfort of our living rooms to huge amounts of information.
And it had helped to settle many inheritance disputes over land ownership...etc. and in the identification of corpses. Forensic specialists tasked with identifying corpses have turned to mtDNA ( mitochondrial DNA) for years, and have identify some World Trade Center victims with such tests.
SPECIFIC USES OF GENETIC GENEALOGY:
1. Paternal and maternal lineages
The two most common types of genetic genealogy tests are Y-DNA (paternal line) and mtDNA (maternal line) genealogical DNA tests. These tests involve the comparison of certain sequences of DNA pairs of individuals in order to estimate the probability that they share a common ancestor in a genealogical time frame and, through the use of a Bayesian model published by Bruce Walsh, to estimate the number of generations separating the two individuals from their most recent common ancestor.
Males are able to see if another male is a descendant from their direct paternal line. The 12 marker Y-DNA test has become the world standard, and is being adopted by National Geographic's - Genographic Project.
The 37-marker test yields the world's tightest parameters to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA).
Females and Males can determine which Haplogroup they are part of based upon the descent through their maternal line. Reports are compared to the Cambridge Reference Sequence, and once identify the lettered Haplogroup from the mtDNA is assigned by the scientific community.
2. Bio geographical and ethnic origins
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE BENEFITS:
Genetic genealogy gives genealogists a means to check or supplement the historical record with information from genetic data.
A positive test match with another individual may
- provide locations for further genealogical research
- help determine ancestral homeland
- discover living relatives
- validate existing research
- confirm or deny suspected connections between families
- prove or disprove theories regarding ancestry
People's concerns about Genetic Genealogy:
- Cost
- Concerns over privacy issues
- Loss of ethnic identity
- Discovery of flaws in long accepted lineages
But because of the rapid growth of genetic genealogy the cost of testing continues to drop. The number of people being tested continues to increase. So cost will be soon no more a concern. And research companies have implemented a strict policy for privacy.
Genetic Genealogy is important too in tracing our ancestry's health history. It will help predict our risk from a variety of medical condition. And help us prevent or cure them earlier.
Genographic Project Part 1
Genographic Project Part 2
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Comments
Well written article, my friend. But hey, what use is this topic to the poor guy? :P
I'd love to learn the Bayesian model to track back my ancestors.Who knows, I might be the descendant of a distinguished royal family and heir to their colossal wealth,lol.I promise to share it with you if you help me,lol.It's amazing how much information a tiny piece of code on our sex-linked gene can reveal about us.
Thank you Sunseven, Lordwarwizard and Bluewings for your comments. This new way of tracking our ancestor will benefit everyone. A poor guy may end up rich, if he was traced to be a royal descendant to the crown of Marie Antoinette. And I think the mere fact of knowing your past, your ancestry, where we came from, is priceless. (^^,)
This was a very interesting, well written article. I pretty much know where to start searchig for my ancestors. Unfortunately, I need to travel to begin digging up.
Well written article and very informative. I'd like to track mine, who knows I might be a related to Bill Gates :)
Yes, genealogy itself is a lot of work but with rewarding results. Thanks Charms and thanks Annie. (^^,)
Hey, Bes...this article of yours seems to be well researched...cool! But i think i better not look for more relatives of ours since my family tree is soooooo full of branches already i can't even remember their names, gosh (lol). Anyways it's good for those people who seems to be loosing their roots. Way to go girl!
Don't worry if you need help in the quest for your whole family tree someday. I'll be here. And thank you Bes for your comment. Publish your first hub soon ha! take care. (^^,)
Alright, I wonder which country I am Prince of...
Lots of work went into this article -- great job! This stuff is fascinating to me.
hey maybe I am the great grand grand grand grand grand grand...daughter of Sherlock Holmes.. you think so? I guess! ha ha ha! Nice work Tess.. the article is full of facts.. looks like you've done a study and researched on it. Very nice. :)
Such projects are fascinating to consider. You have done your homework on assembling and writing the hub. I hope that they manage to get all the bugs worked out so that people can have full confidence in the results.
BTW, I like your Avatar. I admire Boticelli's art and enjoy seeing it, wherever it pops up.
Thank you Mr. JD Murrah for your comment. And it's great to hear such a positive comment from a writer like you. Thank you so much.
And for my avatar, it's one of my passion, art, litterature, especially greek mythology..and this painting is one of my favorite...the birth of aphrodite...(^^,)
SunSeven says:
2 years ago
Great article. For many of us, tracking down our ancestors has become a rewarding if challenging pastime. I can see rapid improvement and developments in this research.