subject: DNA Testing: A Beginner's Way to Understand this Complex Subject [print this page] DNA Testing: A Beginner's Way to Understand this Complex Subject
DNA FACTS
How do you simplify the quite complex subject of DNA and Genetics? What is DNA? DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid. It is the chemical that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms the way they are. Four bases are present in DNA. The adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). Their order is called the DNA sequence which specifies the exact genetic instructions to create a living organism with its distinctive traits and features.
CHROMOSMES
What are chromosomes? You have 23 pairs of chromosomes. With the 22 pairs, they are identical but the last pair is different. In women, it has two chromosomes called "X". In men, one is a "X" and the other is a "Y." It is these two different pairs which figure the gender. During conception, the child gets the X chromosome from the mother to be a girl but from the father, it can be a Y to be a boy.
DNA MATCHING
The Y-Chromosome is responsible for the development of the embryo into a male. This little chromosome is transmitted to the sons from fathers. It is the only chromosome that evades the perpetual shuffle of the genes of the parents during the production of sex cells. These unique and distinctive feature makes the Y-Chromosomes very valuable to genealogists. DNA testing and analysis can be done to accurately determine paternal identity. Other testing and matching termed mitochondrial DNA were responsible for identifying and confirming the true identities of the remains of some famous or infamous personalities like the Romanovs, the last Russian royal family, Marie Antoinette of France and Cowboy outlaw Jesse James as they matched with the DNAs of close relatives. Males and females receive mitochondrial DNA from their mothers, which also contain the DNA of their direct maternal line.
