Learn What a DNA Test Can and Can’t Tell You

Besides determining whom a child’s mother and father are, there are a number of other uses for DNA testing. There are some parts of DNA that remain unaltered as they are passed from child to child, but there are other parts that go through a drastic transformation. While you won’t be able to unearth your entire family tree through a DNA test, you can find out a great deal about your family history.

The Specifics

Specifically, a DNA test can be used to:

·         Determine who you’re related to

·         Disprove or prove any research that you’ve done about your family history

·         Offer clues about your ethnic roots

·         Find out if two people are related either to each other or to an ancestor

The way that DNA tests work is that you collect a sample of cells from the inside of your mouth with a cheek swap before sending the swab off to be analyzed at an accredited testing center – learn more at http://www.homedna.com/faq.html.

Legal Paternity

If a mother is seeking child support from the father of her child, a DNA test can be of great help to her paternity suit if she decides to bring one against the alleged father. DNA testing can also help the father if he is requesting visitation rights to see his child. 

Inheritance and Biological Parents

A DNA test might also be used if there is a question of who is eligible to receive an inheritance should known or unknown children of a deceased person enter the picture to claim an inheritance.  

Something else that a DNA test can tell you is who your biological parents are if you are adopted or conceived through a donor conception. A similar scenario is if your parents were divorced while you were young and you were raised by your stepfather you might want to find out who your biological father is.

Narrow Your Focus

If you plan to use a DNA test for something other than paternity, it’s best that you narrow down your focus to one specific question. For instance, you might want to know whether or not you and individuals in other states who share the same last name are related. In this situation you would have to gather several males who have the same last name as you and compare the final results of the DNA test. If there’s a match, you’ll be able to determine that all of you share a common ancestor, but you would not be able to find out which specific ancestor it is that you all share. One way to narrow things down would be to have additional family members tested.

If you plan on testing your DNA and no one else’s, you should know that you won’t be able to find out very much information about who your ancestors are. The best way to put your DNA test results to greater use is to have them compared to the results of population studies and the results of other individuals. Another option is for you to put your test results into an online DNA database. There are some testing companies that will inform you if you have any DNA markers that match those of anyone else in their database.     

Life Insurance and Social Security Benefits

If a father dies before legal paternity can be determined, a DNA test can help with life insurance and social security claims. Under these circumstances, a court order would allow a medical examiner to take a DNA sample and test it at an accredited laboratory. When done this way, the claimant doesn’t have to use any other means to provide the courts with proof that there was a biological relationship between them and their father.

Understanding DNA Tests

If you choose to have a Y-chromosome DNA test, your sample will be tested at a variety of different points known as markers or loci and studied for the number of times those markers or loci repeat themselves. Once you get your Y-chromosome DNA test results back, the number on it indicates the number of times a pattern was repeated on a marker.

With a mitochondrial DNA test, two regions of DNA that you received from your mother will be tested. There’s a reference sequence that your DNA will be compared to before any differences will be noted on the results.   

While DNA tests are mainly used to determine who a child’s biological mother and father are, there are several other reasons that you might want to think about getting your DNA tested.