subject: The Different Types of DNA Laboratory Testing [print this page] The Different Types of DNA Laboratory Testing
DNA laboratory testing This is part of a scenario usually depicted in some movies and soap operas: a mysterious person suddenly appears in the life of a rich family, claiming that he/she is the illegitimate child of the father/mother from a past fling or affair and is looking for his/her rightful share of the vast inheritance. In order to learn whether the person is indeed telling the truth, the old grandfather/grandmother demands a DNA test as proof of the person's parentage. When the results come out, everyone is shocked to learn that the person has been telling the truth all along.
In the real world, DNA laboratory testing can be conducted whenever a parent (usually the father) is faced with the task of claiming that a child is his or not. This may be an awkward test to be requested especially if the child has come to a certain age of consciousness. If it were done to a baby, it would be much easier to explain it at the right time. However, this is not necessarily a demeaning task to be done if the parent and the child were separated for years.
Other types of DNA laboratory testing include identifying biological family ties. DNA tests can be used by husbands and wives to determine if their spouse was being unfaithful or not. Some DNA services even involve using a family member's DNA as a way to access one's inheritance.
DNA tests that are conducted for biological family ties can identify who a person's grandparents were and can even trace one's ancestry. It's highly possible that the descendants of some of history's most famous figures are alive today. Whenever a husband or a wife suspects that a spouse is being unfaithful, he/she can get a sample of stained sheets (the usual result of a sexual encounter). This can be used to determine who their spouse has been sleeping with.
The very concept of DNA laboratory testing seems to have eradicated any doubt whose child is whose, who a spouse has been sleeping with, etc. It comes to no surprise, then, that Hollywood and daytime soap operas have been including these tests in their already dramatic storylines.
