Archive for the ‘family’ Category

Checking in to DNA Tests for Personal Genetic Information

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DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid is a long molecule that is contained within almost all of our cells within the nucleus. The information in your DNA gets stored in the form of a code, which comprises of four nucleotide bases namely adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T).  DNA is prearranged into extended structures named chromosomes, which are then duplicated previous to the division of cells.

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courtesy flickr

Human beings contain 46 DNA molecules. Genes are working subunits of DNA. The genes take the instructions required for making thousands of proteins, which are available in a cell. All the proteins help to evaluate what your cell will finally look like, and also the kinds of jobs it will do.

DNA Genetic testing has radically improved lives of people. Some tests are then used for clarifying the diagnosis. These tests are also helpful for the physician to understand appropriate treatments. There are many other tests that permit families to keep away from having children, and also avoid devastating diseases. It also identifies people that are at high risk and can be prevented.

Currently, more than 1000 genetic tests are available from testing laboratories. DNA tests for personal genetic information are used for several reasons for example, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, prenatal diagnostic testing, newborn screening, presymptomatic testing for predicting adult disorders such as Huntington’s disease , presymptomatic testing for estimating the risk of developing adult-onset cancers and Alzheimer’s disease, conformational diagnosis of a symptomatic individual and forensic or identity testing.

There are many legal, social and ethical issues involved in DNA testing. The information from  this type of a test can affect the life of the individuals as well as their families. So information should be private and confidential.

Testing genetics is a complex process. There are many different DNA testing centers and we can recommend the following sites for more information: For DNA Testing Kits we use http://DNAKits.org, and for Genealogy DNA Testing we found a lot of great information at www.Genealogy.DNA.com.

Image: courtesy flickr

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Filed under family : Comments (4) : Oct 28th, 2010

How to Have Your DNA Tested for Genealogy

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There has been quite a lot of interest lately in having your DNA tested for genealogy purposes.  If you are worried that this data would put your information in some large criminal database, do not be concerned.

This type of cell collection for genealogy is painless and is far different than the blood tests used for criminal purposes and the databases do not mix.  The collection process is as simple as scraping the inside of your cheek with a swab or a device that sort of resembles a toothbrush.

Then all you do is mail the cell sample in to one of the DNA Testing Centers for analysis.  The results will show what part of the world your early ancestors came from and if you match any other people that have already been tested.

DNA kits are available from dozens of different companies and you have plenty of choices.  The price can run from less than a hundred dollars to several hundred depending upon which level of testing that you desire.  The more markers tested the better the chance of finding a match.

The recent television series, Who do you think you are, has spurred additional interest in this already growing field of technology.  In previous years you were only able to determine for males, the male surname line.  In other words the father, grandfather, great grandfather and on back to the earliest times.

For females you could test your mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and so on back to early times.  Now days with the Family Finder DNA test you are also able to find matches on all of the tree branches in between the paternal Y-DNA and the maternal mtDNA lines.

So go ahead and check it out.  Join the fun and meet new relatives.  Learn more about your family history.

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Filed under family : Comments (15) : May 25th, 2010