Re: Needed DNA Guru....Is there a DNA test we can use ??
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In reply to:
Needed DNA Guru....Is there a DNA test we can use ??
Elaine Bailey 2/09/09
If I've charted this out correctly, your father Robert and Joan are either first cousins or not related at all. As Robert Stafford said, testing this degree of relationship with the conventional autosomal markers (used by paternity testing labs) can be very inconclusive.
However, I think the genome wide scans from companies like deCODEme and 23andMe have some potential for scenarios like yours. 23andMe tests over 500,000 different locations, and close relatives will show extended blocks where they are half-identical. You can create a demo account at http://23andMe.comhttp://23andMe.com and look at the "Mendel" family to see how the Family Inheritance chart looks for grandparents and grandchildren. A chart comparing Robert and Joan would have fewer and smaller blocks, but they would still be visible. This kind of test can often pick up common ancestry for 3rd cousins, sometimes for 4th cousins, and occasionally even more distant ancestors.
SMGF has a nice tutorial on the different pathways of inheritance:
http://www.smgf.org/pages/animations.jspxhttp://www.smgf.org/pages/animations.jspx
Ann Turner
Disclosure: I have a consulting arrangement with 23andMe, but the statements expressed above are my own and not official policy of 23andMe.
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Re: Needed DNA Guru....Is there a DNA test we can use ??
Elaine Bailey 2/11/09