Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Spit again, please!

Two days ago I received my Family Tree DNA kit (by their kind courtesy). This means I’ll have to spit again into a little tube, this time to have my mitochondrial DNA fully sequenced, and not just a few SNPs, or point variations, as I’ve already done.

This is the ultimate test you can take to learn about your origins along your direct maternal line. Not only will it pinpoint ethnic and geographical origins with unprecedented precision, but it will also allow me to see if anybody else’s mtDNA in their database (which is currently the largest one there is, according to them) matches mine.

Still according to their site , this would mean that person and I share a common “grand-mother” in the not too distant past. And if so, we will have the opportunity to get in touch with each other.

I haven’t drooled into the tube yet, but when I do and the results come in, I’ll come back to this in due detail.