So What is Genetic Genealogy and How Does it Work?

Genealogy is the method of researching informationaccurate when applied to ancestral research plus this
about your ancestors in order to help you createresearch will also show a hereditary diseases which
your family tree. Using traditional methods you wouldwill help family members who are alive today.
have to research and find records that are oftenThis method should also benefit families and
difficult to find and interpret, on the other hand thereindividuals who have been either adopted or been the
is a newer method called genetic genealogy whichadoptee, because genetic genealogy can easily trace
uses DNA testing.who these individuals families are. This will allow many
Genealogists who use the traditional methods oftenindividuals to be put in touch with their true family
have to travel to different countries in order tomembers. Who knows, you may even find you are
research information from libraries and archives torelated to someone who is famous. Now wouldn't
enable them to create the family tree they arethat be something exciting to share with friends and
working on. However, there can be some problemsneighbors and of course family
with this method such as not finding the informationGenetic Genealogy Has Two Types of DNA Testing:
they need, this equates to a lot of time being
wasted and money being spent. An alternative to this1. Mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA - is used in research
method is genetic genealogy, which manyto determining a maternal ancestor. Therefore, if
professionals are finding very promising and accurate.there are two people who are found with the same
Using Genetic Genealogy:mtDNA, it is most probable that they have the same
The birth of genetic genealogy has come aboutmaternal origin. Unfortunately, mtDNA slowly changes,
because of the advancement in DNA techniques andwhich can make it difficult to identify close
knowledge. This is giving many researchers arelatedness.
promising method of finding the missing links to a2. Y-chromosome Tests - this type of genetic
family tree. From a scientific standpoint DNA showsgenealogy tests are being used more often in
that we all come from common female and maleresearch. This test is only apply to males because this
ancestors, so it's going to be interesting to see howchromosome is passed from father to son, and is
this will help research.therefore also used to identify ancestry if individuals
Because this method uses medical science there isshare the same surname.
the benefit that using DNA samples will be more