The Genealogist

Different Scenarios In Which DNATesting Becomes Important

By Sean Tan

Deoxyribo nucleic acid test is a process of analyzing the structure of DNA of a person, but it is put to a lot of uses. Thus the DNA of a person is quite unique from that of another; it is used as a method of identifying the person. There are several scenarios in which Deoxyribo nucleic acid test is legally significant. Here we check out the many reasons for which this testing could be legally required.

1. One of the primary purposes of DNA testing is to establish paternity. There are cases when the child is unsure of whom his/her father is, or the father is not sure that the child is really his. This might be a problem in cases of inheritance or in cases when there is a divorce and upkeep for the child has to be paid by the father. Courts will generally use a DNA paternity testing in such cases to find out whether the kid biologically belongs to the father.

2. Criminal investigations also require a lot of DNA testing. Most times, biological samples such as hair, blood, skin cells, semen, etc. are found at scenes of crime. These could be a very accurate way of determining some people associated with the crime. Since all these biological samples contain DNA, and DNA is unique for every person, DNA heritage testing can be beautifully used here to investigate the crime.

3. DNA testing is also used to determine by immigration officers in some doubtful cases. For example, consider a person wishing to get into a country claiming someone there is his/her father. In that case, a DNA paternity testing will establish the paternity legally without doubt. Sometimes, this might also be needed for aliens who are staying with people they claim to be their parents in another country.

4. On a broader scale, genealogical DNA test can be used to historically determine the ancestry of a person. People are getting these tests done to find out about their own ancestors. While this is not at all legal, sometimes it might be important in cases when there is a problem connected with inheritance or for establishing lineage for legal reasons.

It must be noted that there are several home DNA tests available today. While these tests are quite accurate, their results will not be admissible in courts of law. For legal DNA tests, only tests conducted by professionals will be accepted.

About The Author

Sean\’s article on Prenatal DNATesting reveals something that you probably didn\’t know about before. You can read more of this articles to find out about unknown things. This is the link:
http://www.gene-tree.org

DNA Paternity Testing To Establish Who Is The Father Of The Child

By Sean Tan

As soon as the name of DNA testing is mentioned, the first thing that jumps to mind is paternity testing. This is the greatest use to which DNA testing is used to find out who is the father of a child. In some cases, also maternity is needed to be established. Even in such a case, DNA testing can help. So how is the whole process conduced?

For DNA heritage testing, you will need to get a DNA testing kit. There are two kinds of kits available, the home DNA test kit and the legal DNA testing kit. The home kit is a very simple apparatus which you can use yourself to get the DNA samples of both the parties and then send them to the labs for testing, while the legal kit is something an authorized professional will use. The legal kit is used for legal purposes, such as determining paternity in cases of inheritance or for claiming for alimony after a divorce, etc. However, both kinds of tests are equally accurate.

The important intention is to collect DNA samples from the supposed father and the child and send them to a lab for analysis. The lab usually produces the results in a week, and also indicates how accurate their findings are. The interesting situation here is that negative tests (that is, the person is not the father of the child) can be determined much more accurately than the positive tests. But the main problem lies in getting the sample of DNA from the alleged father. The person may or may not be willing to give samples.

If the person is willing, there is no problem at all. All that has to be done is to place a swab from the kit inside the cheek. This will transfer some inner cheek cells to the swab from where the DNA can be extricated. But if the person is not willing, then the DNA heritage testing needs to be done surreptitiously. In this case, any object that might contain a biological sample of the person can be used. This can include even seemingly harmless things such as a cigarette butt, a cap with his hair in it, his underwear, his unwashed clothes, or even a glass he has drunk something from. The analysts will extricate the DNA from these objects and conduct their tests.

From the user\’s point of view, the DNA paternity testing is quite a simple thing to do, and involves nothing more than collecting samples.

About The Author

Sean writes on articles that hold his interest. You can read similar articles from him like this one on DNA Paternity Testing at the following link:
http://www.gene-tree.org

How Accurate Are The Results Of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Tests?

By Sean Tan

DNA tests must be done quite accurately and efficiently, because a lot of serious things might depend on the results of these tests. They might determine the true paternity of a child, or the ancestral lineage of a person, or even establish if the person is staying as an illegal alien in a particular country. All these things are highly important, and that\’s the reason why DNA tests must not be inaccurate in the least. But what is the actual accuracy ratio of the DNA tests?

To understand that, we will first need to be acquainted with the structure of the DNA. The DNA molecule is a double helical structure (we are indebted to the Nobel Prize winning scientists, Watson and Crick, who discovered the structure of the DNA). It contains a recurring pattern of sugar molecules containing 5 carbon atoms (deoxyribose sugars) connected with phosphoric acid molecules. The sugars are also connected via nitrogen bases. Human beings have two types of nitrogen bases, the purines and the pyrimidines. There are two purines, adenine and guanine; and there are two pyrimidines, cytosine and thymine. This makes it a total of four nitrogen bases.

Now the wonderful thing is that no two persons of the world will have the same combinations of these bases in their DNAs. Every person has a unique DNA, and that is the whole basis of all DNA testing. The unique DNA is an establishing factor for the identity of the person.

When a child is produced, the child will contain half the DNA from the father and half the DNA from the mother. Thus, by comparing the DNAs, paternity and other such things can be established.

Since these tests are more about comparing two different patterns, their results can get a high degree of accuracy. If you want to disprove that a person is the father of the child, i.e. a negative test, then you can get cent percent accurate results. But if you want to prove that the person is the father of the child, i.e. a positive test, then the accuracy of the test might be a little low. That means, negative tests are much more accurate than positive tests.

It is very important that you select an ISO branded company for your DNA tests, because they follow standard procedures and have a better history of accuracy. Identigene is one of my recommendations for DNA testing.

About The Author

The subject of DNA Tests fascinated Sean so much that he studied deeply into it, and now he wants people to know about it. He has written more such informative articles too. You can read them here:
http://www.gene-tree.org