Ancestry DNA Testing Options

We offer Two distinctly different ancestry DNA tests—AncestrybyDNA™ and Lineage DNA Testing. Each test offers something unique about your ancestry.
Please click on one of the links below to “Learn More” about each particular test.
AncestrybyDNA™ tests are performed to determine an individual's bio-geographic ancestry. Whether you're interested in researching your family history, or just simply want to learn more about yourself, this test can provide you with a better understanding of your genetic ancestry and provide a window into further research about your possible ancestors.
This test gives an estimated percentage of ancestry from four population groups:

• Indigenous American. This group is composed of people who migrated to inhabit North, South and Central America.
• European. This people group includes Europeans, Middle Easterners, and South Asians.
• East Asian. This people group includes the Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, and Pacific Islanders.
• African. This group includes people with roots in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa.

Please note that this test does not predict or establish a person's race*; it only gives an estimate of genetic ancestry or heritage, for example:

When you order an AncestrybyDNA™ test, you will receive the following:
• An easy-to-use DNA sample collection kit containing cheek swabs and complete instructions
• Ancestry Test Certificate listing your ancestral percentage
• A detailed AncestrybyDNA™ manual that explains your results, as well as provides more information about ancestry testing and human migration history.

Find out your direct ancestors' geographic origins. You can trace your maternal, paternal, or both maternal and paternal lineages. Paternal lineages can only be traced for males.With this test:
• A DNA Collection Kit sent right to your home.
• A full-color Maternal and/or Paternal Lineage certificate listing your maternal and/or paternal haplogroup assignment.
•A Haplogroup Description page

Testing The maternal lineage test is based on the fact that mitochondrial DNA is passed down from mother to child relatively unchanged through several generations. Our mitochondrial DNA contains markers that can be traced to our early ancestors and where they settled thousands of years ago.
Results of a maternal lineage test are expressed in terms of haplogroups—genetic groups of people who share the same set of DNA markers and can be traced to a certain geographic area that they settled at a particular point in human history.

It is found in the cytoplasm, outside the nucleus. It only passed through the mother. During fertilization, only nuclear DNA from the sperm enters the cell; thus the father does not make any contribution to the mitochondrial DNA. It is abundant in number. While your nuclear chromosomes are only found in 2 copies per cell, one from your mother and one from your father, mtDNA is found much more abundantly—anywhere between hundreds to thousands of copies per cell. Small and circular. While nuclear DNA is made up of much longer strands of DNA that are tightly coiled into chromosomes, mitochondrial DNA is found as a small, circular chromosome.

HVRs are the site where the most mutations occur in mtDNA. On average, one letter in the sequence of mtDNA changes every 1,500 years. This change is then passed on to succeeding generations. The changes in an individual's mtDNA comprise his or her haplotype—the mitochondrial DNA profile—that allows scientists to assign a person to his or her haplogroup, a group of people with similar haplotypes. The haplogroup is associated with a historical and geographical origin. There are three possible areas in our mtDNA that can be tested:
• HVRI Testing this region is usually sufficient to determine a person's haplogroup.
• HVRII and HVRIII Testing these two regions can provide more detail if HVSI testing is not sufficient to determine affinity to a haplogroup; it could also further refine a haplogroup into sub-groups, also called sub-clades.

Testing The paternal lineage test is based on the fact that the Y chromosome is passed down from father to child relatively unchanged through several generations. Special sections on the Y chromosome, called short tandem repeats (STRs), are examined to determine a person's Y haplogroup—revealing the geographic origins of his ancestors as evidenced by common DNA markers.
Only males have the Y chromosome, but if a female wants to find out about her paternal ancestry, she can ask her brother, father, or other relative along the same paternal line to take the test.

Order a test onlinehereor call us at 877-436-8735 to receive the Specimen Collection Kit.