Genealogy,
DNA, and You
Dear PGS MN members,
A non-profit research company is assembling a large database of family pedigrees and has contacted our Society. Using DNA information that is tied to pedigree charts submitted from around the world, their research could help you make connections among these family trees. The company, Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF) has asked us to help them gather this information. So, at several upcoming monthly meetings, you will have the opportunity to submit your family tree and give a DNA sample that will be tested. The DNA results will be tied to your submitted tree. Using your own DNA profile or surname you can look for “matches’ to you family on their website. Obviously, if more people submit, the chances of finding a match increase.
Imagine having exhausted all the usual paper records available to you and still, by the wonders of modern DNA, be able to identify and verify unknown family branches!!
Here are the details of the collection. They are followed by a brief review of DNA testing with some frequently asked questions:
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Melissa Phillips and I work for the Public Affairs department of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF), a non-profit organization dedicated to compiling the world’s foremost database of DNA profiles and genealogical pedigrees. In a nutshell, SMGF is establishing a database that combines the power of DNA with traditional genealogical methods from across the world. Although we are quickly approaching 100,000 samples, we still have a lot of road left to travel and your help would be greatly appreciated!
Currently,
we’ve started focusing much of our
efforts on Polish citizens and have begun establishing contacts with
people in
Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you. Have a wonderful day.
Melissa Phillips
Creative
& Technical Director
Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation
801.428.1091
melissa@smgf.org
=========================================
Who: Any member, friend or relative may submit-- you need not be any part Polish.
What: You will be asked to submit a four-generation family tree with as much information as possible. You will also be given a small vial of mouthwash that you swish around for a minute and redeposit in the vial right there at the meeting. These are then sent in for analysis with your pedigree charts.
When/Where: Collections
will occur at the MGS library
during our May, Oct and Nov meetings in 2008 as well as at the
How Much: The submission is free and the process (including shipping, testing, etc.) is free to the Society. That is, your dues are not supporting this effort.
Why: At this point, you are doing it for the “greater good”. SMGF is using the data to see how people’s DNA is related worldwide. However, by personally helping the database grow you are increasing the chance for a match of your own someday.
DNA is the “finger print of life”. Physically, DNA looks like a ladder that has been twisted into a spiral. Each rung of the ladder represents a microscopic “pair” of proteins. One side of the ladder comes from your mother, the other side from your father. So, as the two are ‘zipped’ together during fertilization they form a unique series of pairs that is different from any other sets of parents and yet the new ladder is tied to each parent. Your DNA is present in every cell in your body - either living or dead.
Using special technology, you can actually identify all of the thousands and thousands of pairs on your DNA ladder. Since, DNA is incredibly stable (if it were not, genetic birth defects would be very common place), researchers tend to focus on only a few dozen pairs that seem to have the most variations. It is patterns in these variations that ultimately prove your “fingerprint” and because that print has commonality with your parent’s prints you can prove relationships though these patterns. Many excellent books have been written on the subject. So, we will not summarize the mathematics and biology of the technology here. But lets just say that, your mother’s direct line and father’s direct line can be effectively traced with as few as two dozen of these “marker pairs”.
How will the privacy of the individuals on my
pedigree
charts be maintained?
Although all the information will be input in the database for future use, information will only be given out on events occurring more then 100 years ago. So, marriage and death records along with birth information for any living relative under the age of 100 will not be revealed. You will get to preview your genetic matches and their pedigree charts, but because of this 100-year rule, they will not be connecting participants. You will have to make the connections several generations back using their website.
I hear things about DNA reports.
Will I get some kind of report?
Although SMGF will keep and use your marker patterns in their research, they are not set up to offer back to you your report results. There are 3 or 4 commercial “for profit” firms that do DNA testing for a fee. However, you will find that depending on for what you are testing (medical traits, genealogy, etc.) and whether you are doing male (Y) and/or female (mtDNA) line work, the total number/type of markers required varies. Therefore, so does the price of the testing ($200-$600 or more). To uncover your direct matches you will need your own DNA test report run separately as an expense to you.
Will they tell me if I’m going to get Cancer or
Alzheimer’s?
Although great strides are being made in DNA research every year, those breakthroughs are coming from the patterns that are immerging in the DNA markers. SMGF’s testing focuses on the patterns associated with family relationships. So, even if information is present in your sample, they are not looking at medical patterns in their present research.
PLEASE NOTE: The Polish Genealogical Society of MN is independent of SMGF in this mater. We have no control over the company, its future practices, etc. However, we encourage the use of technology in Genealogy research and find this project worthwhile. That is why we are aiding in the collection of the information. Feel free to check out the Foundation’s website at smgf.org for more information and a glimpse at the databases.