DNA FAQ

People always arouse in their minds many questions around DNA. They want to know more about it. We will introduce here in our article some of these serious and important questions.

First, you should know what is DNA? We can answer simply this question. DNA is an abbreviation to deoxyribonucleic acid. It is the foundation of life. It is a large chain of molecules which used as a blueprint for building cell and making them function. DNA is made from four molecules, adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine(C). These four molecules are called nucleotides.

How can DNA identify someone?

There are sequences among your DNA that are similar among people, but when considered as a group, the difference among many sequences unique to you. If you think of it as different physical characteristics among people, you will find that your identity looking is made up of weight, height, eye and hair and skin colors, hair styles, etc. some people may be similar to you in any of these, but no one all his physical characteristics will be exactly the same like you. You can apply the same idea on DNA. Also there are markers (that are a small regions of DNA) used in human identity testing that have well-characterized structures and locations on our chromosomes. Good markers for human identity have around 15 differences like hair and colors among all people. These differences may be existing in 25% of all people, others much less. According to the person’s DNA being tested, they might have variant 10 at a particular marker. 20% of all people may have that same variant 10 at the same location. Many markers used to characterize a person’s DNA, the same thing when we use many attributes to characterize physical appearance of someone.

Where can we find DNA in our body?

DNA exists in the nucleus of every cell in the body of human being.

What are the results of DNA test?

To understand the result of DNA test, you have to know that a person results will be serious of numbers called alleles. The markers of the alleles are called DNA Y chromosome Strand (DYS). These numbers will be compared to the others in the family tree DNA database for matches. These matches used in eliminating non-relations and confirm relations. So, you can perform DNA identity testing for the purpose of counting the probability of relationship between two or more persons.

What are the types of DNA tests?

The most popular tests of DNA are ancestry tests, Y chromosome testing and mitochondrial testing which test direct-line paternal and maternal ancestry.

What are the samples that used in DNA test?

There are many samples which can be used in DNA test. We will introduce some of them.

1-Hair: the lab will need at least 6-10 hairs to make the test.

2-Blood: fresh blood will be a very good sample for obtaining DNA.

3-Nails: it is possible to extract DNA from nails.

4- Chewing gum: it can be a good source of DNA sample if you don’t touch it.

5- Bone: it is one of the most difficult samples to obtain DNA from, and most of laboratories don’t offer this service.

As we said before where are many samples used to obtain DNA. These can include sperm, cigarette butt, tooth brush, envelope and stamp, tooth picks, handkerchief, clothes items, etc. The useful of these samples depends on how much DNA it contains.