Genealogy Chat

I'm not sure what your trying to do, but I believe that you can tell racial ancestry because there are some unique 'signatures' in your DNA. If you are just trying to confirm your paternal line, maybe you could get a member of your fathers family to have a DNA test too, then you would know if you are related... Alison

Tanks everyone. I'm a little bit clearer now! I am a bit dubious about companies like Oxford Ancestors though.

Hi, I'm doing a PhD in genetics, so maybe I can help. There are two 'sets' of DNA. The common DNA is inherited from both parents, so for each gene you have, one copy is from your mum, and one from your dad. (Eggs carry only one copy of each gene, sperm carries only one copy of each gene and when they meet, you get both copies together!! So, you trace your father (and mother) through this 'normal' DNA (blood test, DNA is extracted from the white blood cells). You inherit mitochondrial DNA from your mother only as it is present in the egg but not in the sperm. Mitochondrial DNA mutations cause things like alzheimers which follows maternal line - ie you worry if your mum or mums mum has it, but if its your dads mum, no problems!! Hope I made sense!! Cheers Alison

The male DNA which e ery woman carries from her father is found in the double helix of ordinary DNA. When "ordinary" DNA testing is done, it unravels the double helix, thus giving a ribbon of father's DNA and a ribbon of mother's DNA, each ribbon showing the parents unique DNA. So, to trace your father and his father etc you would need to compare the DNA of each set of parents - impossible, except for the last few generations. But mitochondrial DNA, carried by women only, is not a double helix, but a doughnut shaped circle containing only a single ribbon. Because the DNA is so short it is almost always successfully copied (i.e. no mistakes are made) and it only mutates (successfully, that is) about once every four thousand years. You should read a riveting book about this called "The Seven Daughters of Eve", which claims to trace every woman living on this planet back to one of seven women, who in turn must come from one woman. Males have a similar thing in that the info carried on their Y chromosome is of course unique to men and can be therefore traced back for mny thousands of years. Of course, a Y chromosome is really a broken X chromosome - proof that men have a bit missing! Tee hee!

Hi found using this URL: http://www.bbc.*co.uk/crime/caseclosed/dna.shtml (omit asterisk) *** Mitochondrial DNA is a form of DNA found in small components of a human cell called mitochondria. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother and does not show paternal characteristics. This means that brothers and sisters will have the same mitochondrial DNA type as their mother, as will any relative linked through the female line. *** Does that help? Christine

Sorry for the awful spelling!! Was watching 'Motherland' on BBC2, about Black British people tracing their roots in Africa, and I was wondering, if you're female, is there anyway you can trace where you direct paternal line goes back to? Women only inherit the mother's DNA signature, how is the father's signature recogised in a woman's DNA??? Does anyone know!?!