A DNA ancestry test is essentially the way you can learn every single detail about your family genealogy through the genes, a process that has become quite popular over the last few years as people’s interest in their history has grown exponentially.
Believe it or not, the genetic ancestry testing allows to examine the DNA to the point where you can find the most unbelievable variations that offer the clues you want to know in order to determine where your ancestors came from, and even the connection between the families.
This relationship is usually one of the most revealing details when making a DNA ancestry, given the fact that the more related two families or individuals are, the more variation patterns these groups will share.
Getting to this point, it is important to know there are different types of ancestry DNA tests that exist right now. In case you don’t know any of these, here are the most famous.
Mitochondrial DNA testing
This one essentially identifies the vast number of genetic variations that take place in the so-called mitochondrial DNA. This is probably the most complex testing considering there’s an incredible number of DNA and cell structures that are checked in order to provide the results.
One of the most curious aspects of this type of test is the fact that while both females and males can use the Mitochondrial DNA testing, its main purpose is essentially to provide information about the direct ancestral line of the woman. Also, it preserves the data about her ancestors, which is quite useful since this information usually get lost from the historical records.
Y chromosome testing
As it name suggest, this type of testing is the opposite of the previous one, meaning that only males can take it and its main purpose is to check the whole ancestry line in the man’s direct line.
On the other hand, this type of genetic testing is sometimes used to determine different questions such as whether two different groups or families are related even when they have the same surname.
Nucleotide polymorphism testing
This type of test evaluates the widest variations across someone’s entire genome. Once this part is done, the results are then compared with those of other people who have also taken this specific test in order to give an estimate of the ethnic background.
This is the most famous type of testing of all, considering this is the one that people use to determine the percentage of all ethnicities they have in their genes. For example, someone could be 25 percent African, 50 percent Asian, 20 European, etc.
X-DNA testing
This one really comes in handy for inheritance patterns and it is known for being part of the autosomal test, which is the procedure that only focuses on the 22 different chromosomes’ pairs that don’t have any sort of association with someone’s sex.
As it name suggests, the X-DNA testing looks exclusively at the X-chromosome, which is present not only males but also in females. After all, while men always get the X-chromosome only from their mothers, women receive it from each of her parents.
People usually get this test in order to examining every single detail of the chromosome in question. The reason? Experts concluded this will spot inheritance patterns not only for traits but also for different types of illnesses that the person can suffer in the future depending on their ancestry.
Ethnic Makeup test
The main goal of this type of DNA test is to determine the population clusters of people’s ancestry and the so-called biographical makeup.
In order to understand the purpose of this test, it is crucial to know that the Homo Sapiens were nomadic species that traveled every single continent and nation. Throughout the years, this specimen created tribes that eventually migrated to other parts of the world, being the reason why every single person is made up of numerous percentages of ethnicities.
This information is easily determined by this test, which gives the person who goes through it the most accurate prediction of the biographical makeup. What’s quite outstanding about this type of DNA ancestry test is the fact that it shows a map with the different ancestral locations.
