Some Options for DNA Testing
Other Testing Services
Family Tree DNA , Oxford Ancestors and Ancestry DNA, MyHeritage , 23andMe , and LivingDNA offer DNA testing.
Thorough Comparison of DNA Testing Companies by Honest Product Reviews
A word of caution: panels ranging from 12 to 67 markers are available, with corresponding price ranges, of course. The 12 marker panel is not recommended. As DNA Heritage stated in explaining why it doesn't even offer this choice:
Simply because the conclusions are often wrong. In 21 per cent of cases, a perfect
matchusing just 12 markers proves not to be the case when expanded to 25. This gives rise to the the potential of people re-writing their family tree based on the evidence, when in fact if more markers were used, these errors would not have happened. Thus we refuse to sell less than 20 markers (23 being our minimum). In '11/12 near-matches' this error rate rises.
More than You Probably Want to Know
Do you wonder how a tiny sample such as the few cells that are scraped off the inside of the inside of the cheek could possibly be analyzed? Compare it to the volume of blood that is drawn for clinical testing, sometimes as much as an ounce or more. It is done through the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which was introduced in 1985. Basically, it is a way to take as little as one strand of DNA and reproduce it until there is enough for testing. The double stranded DNA is "unzipped", and each strand is provided with the building blocks to reassemble the complementary strand and the enzyme, DNA polymerase, to make it happen. With each process, the amount of DNA is doubled. Other sample types can be analyzed , but the cost for these is quite a bit higher, and the results are not guaranteed. Samples that DNA Heritage will accept include: a hair which has a root attached; extractions from bone or teeth; body fluids or stains left by body fluids; licked stamps and envelopes. More than You Probably Want to Know Do you wonder how a tiny sample such as the few cells that are scraped off the inside of the inside of the cheek could possibly be analyzed? Compare it to the volume of blood that is drawn for clinical testing, sometimes as much as an ounce or more. It is done through the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which was introduced in 1985. Basically, it is a way to take as little as one strand of DNA and reproduce it until there is enough for testing. The double stranded DNA is "unzipped", and each strand is provided with the building blocks to reassemble the complementary strand and the enzyme, DNA polymerase, to make it happen. With each process, the amount of DNA is doubled. Other sample types can be analyzed , but the cost for these is quite a bit higher, and the results are not guaranteed. Samples that DNA Heritage will accept include: a hair which has a root attached; extractions from bone or teeth; body fluids or stains left by body fluids; licked stamps and envelopes.