What is DNA?

Locked inside your DNA is your unique ethnic makeup, the history of your ancestors, and a web of close and distant relatives waiting to be found. From a quick quick swab of your cheek, the test determines your ethnic origins and finds your relatives. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and in almost all other living organisms. Nearly every cell in a person's body has the same DNA, and it is passed down from parents to their children. Whenever organisms reproduce, a portion of their DNA is passed along to their offspring ensuring a certain level of continuity from one generation to the next.

Genetic mapping provides clues about which chromosome contains certain genes and precisely where the gene lies on that specific chromosome. This type of mapping can offer firm evidence that a disease transmitted from parent to child is linked to one or more genes. In genetics, a centimorgan (abbreviated cM), also called a map unit (m.u.), is a unit for measuring genetic linkage. It is defined as the distance between chromosome positions (also termed loci or markers) for which the expected average number of intervening chromosomal crossovers in a single generation is 0.01.

Genetic testing today is increasingly an integral part of the family history and genealogy industry and is often considered an essential part of serious family history research. DNA testing can be useful for answering to questions regarding adoption, illegitimacy, unknown or misattributed parentage, name changes, immigration, and many other instances of difficult-to-trace ancestry.

Your ancestors left genetic clues to your family history in you and in other descendants, and you can unlock these clues by testing your DNA and that of additional relatives.

• Discover previously unknown relatives via DNA matches
• Uncover the ethnic and geographical origins of your ancestors
• Prove or disprove whether you and another person are related through a common ancestor
• Break through “brick walls” encountered during your family history research

DNA tests are useful for identifying the deep ancestral origins of your direct paternal line (Y-DNA), your direct maternal line (mtDNA), finding relatives across all lines via Autosomal DNA (Family Finder), and producing a percentage breakdown of your ethnic roots.

DNA isn’t just for scientists anymore. Order your DNA kit today to get started.