Dameyo

10 DNA Testing Myths Busted

// March 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Science and Technology

1. Genetic genealogy is only for hardcore genealogists.

Wrong! If you’ve ever wondered about the origins of your DNA, or about your direct paternal or maternal ancestral line, then genetic genealogy might be an interesting way to learn more.

Although DNA testing of a single line, such as through an mtDNA test, will only examine one ancestor out of 1024 potential ancestors at 10 generations ago, this is a 100% improvement over 0 ancestors out of 1024. If you add your father’s Y-DNA, this is a 200% improvement. Now add your mother’s mtDNA, and so on. However, please note the next myth:

2. I’m going to send in my DNA sample and get back my entire family tree.

Sorry. DNA alone cannot tell a person who their great-grandmother was, or what Italian village their great-great grandfather came from. Genetic genealogy can be an informative and exciting addition to traditional research, and can sometimes be used to answer specific genealogical mysteries.

3. I would like to try genetic genealogy, but I’m terrified of needles.

Good news! Genetic genealogy firms don’t use blood samples to collect cells for DNA testing. Instead, these companies send swabs or other means to gently obtain cells from the cheek and saliva.

4. I would like to test my ancestor’s DNA, but they died years ago.

You don’t always need your ancestor’s DNA to get useful information from a genetic genealogy test. If you are male, you contain the Y-chromosome (Y-DNA) that was given to you by your father, who received it from his father, and so on.

Both males and females have mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which was passed on to them by their mother, who received it from her mother, and so on. Everyone of us contains DNA (Y-DNA and/or mtDNA) from our ancestors that can be studied by genetic genealogy.

5. I want to test my mother’s father’s Y-DNA, but since he didn’t pass on his Y-chromosome to my mother, I’m out of luck.

Wrong! There is a very good chance that there is another source of that same Y-DNA. For instance, does your mother have a brother (your uncle) who inherited the Y-DNA from his father? Or does your mother’s father have a brother (your great-uncle) who would be willing to submit DNA for the test? Sometimes there might not be an obvious source of “lost” Y-DNA, or no one in the family is willing to take a DNA test.

The secret to solving this problem is to do what every good genealogist does – use traditional genealogical research (paper records, census information, etc) to “trace the DNA”. Follow the line back while tracing descendants in order to find someone who is interested in learning more about their Y-DNA. This applies to finding a source of mtDNA as well.

6. Only men can submit DNA for genetic genealogy tests, since women do not have the Y-chromosome.

Wrong! Most genetic genealogy testing companies also offer mtDNA testing. Both men and women have mtDNA in their cells and can submit that DNA for testing. In addition, women can test their father’s or some other male relative’s Y-DNA to learn more about their paternal ancestral line, even though they did not inherit the Y-chromosome.

7. My genetic genealogy test will also reveal my propensity for diseases associated with the Y-chromosome and mtDNA.

Wrong, thank goodness. Most of the information obtained by genetic genealogy tests has no known medical relevancy, and these firms are not actively looking for medical information. It is important to note, however, that some medical information (such as infertility detected by DYS464 testing or other diseases detectable by a full mtDNA sequence) might inadvertently be revealed by a genetic genealogy test.

8. I don’t like the thought of a company having my DNA on file or my losing control over my DNA sample.

This is, of course, an understandable concern. However, most testing firms give a client two options: the DNA is either immediately destroyed once the tests are run, or it is securely stored for future testing. If the DNA is stored, the firm will typically destroy the DNA upon request. If the long-term storage of DNA is a concern, be sure to research the company’s policy before sending in a sample.

9. If my test reveals Native American ancestry, I plan to join a particular Native American affiliation group.

Although genetic genealogy can potentially reveal Native American ancestry (for instance, my mtDNA belongs to the Native American haplogroup A2), it is incredibly unlikely that this information will be sufficient to positively identify the specific source of the lineage (such as a tribe) or allow membership in a particular Native American affiliation.

10. My DNA is so boring that genetic genealogy would be a waste of time and money.

Very wrong! A person’s DNA is a very special possession – although everyone has DNA, everyone’s DNA is different (okay, except identical twins – if your identical twin has been tested, you should think twice about buying the same test!). As humans settled the world, Y-DNA and mtDNA spread and mixed randomly. As a result, it is impossible to
guess with 100% assurance that a person’s Y-DNA or mtDNA belongs to a particular haplogroup (a related family of DNA sequences) without DNA testing.

BONUS MYTH: My genetic genealogy test says that my mtDNA belongs to Haplogroup A2. Juanita the Ice Maiden, a frozen mummy discovered in the Andes Mountains in Peru, also has Haplogroup A2 mtDNA. Therefore, she must be my ancestor!

Unfortunately, although genetic genealogy can reveal that a person is RELATED to an ancient DNA source, it cannot prove that a person is a DESCENDANT of an ancient DNA source. For instance, perhaps you are descended from Juanita’s sister, or her 5th cousin. Thus, although Juanita might be your great-great-great-great…great-grandmother, she might instead be your great-great-great-great…great-aunt. And since Juanita died when she was just 12 to 14, it is unlikely she
has any descendants.

If you understand the risks associated with genetic genealogy (such as the detection of non-paternal events) and other risks) and are ready and willing to embrace the results to learn more about your genetic ancestry, then genetic genealogy might be for you. I recommend that you read archived posts here at The Genetic Genealogist, and do some online research through one of the many companies that offer genetic genealogy testing

Blaine T. Bettinger, Ph.D.

The world of Japanese gangsters

// March 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // General

The yakuza are among the largest crime organization in the world. In Japan, as of 2005, there are some 86,300 known members. In Japan, yakuza organizations are referred to as “boryokudan” (violence group).

Who are the yakuza?: How the mob rose to power in Japan?
Japanese mobsters came to prominence after the Second World War, running the black markets that sprang up in the devastated country. At their peak, they mixed with prime ministers, celebrities and Japan’s richest businessmen, and were romanticized in popular movies and books as protectors of traditions and the true inheritors of the Bushido code of honor.

The introduction of an anti-mob law in 1992 and a decade of economic slump has taken its toll–in the law’s immediate aftermath, several smaller groups went bust or merged, and the number of full and associate members fell from a high of more than 90,000 to 79,300.

Yet, they are still many times more numerous than the US mafia at its peak and the biggest yakuza group, the Yamaguchi-gumi (the biggest yakuza family with more than 39,000 members divided into 750 clans, thus making up 45% of all yakuza in Japan) is bigger and more powerful than ever.

The group’s bosses have their HQ in a large compound in an upper-class neighborhood of Kobe City, where they host a monthly gathering of crime bosses from across the country, under the noses of the police.

Yakuza income has shrunk along with the rest of the economy, but some groups have moved out of traditional business such as prostitution and loan-sharking into real estate.

A government-funded study in the late-1990s found that as much as 42 per cent of bad loans from banks involved organized crime. Most mobsters avoid stirring up trouble with the law, but occasionally violence flares.

In the days of the Shogun, Japan’s authorities would mark criminals with tattoos to distinguish them from the rest of the population. Worn proudly as symbols of status and dedication. Yakuza tattoos have evolved into magnificent, multicolored full-body masterpieces.

Women are also integral parts of Japan’s gangland society. Wives, mistresses and girlfriends of top yakuza figures often undergo extensive tattooing. These women use tattoos to demonstrate their affiliation with the gang lifestyle. It’s done to show loyalty and obedience to the yakuza member they are involved with.

Like Shoko Tendo, author of the best-selling book “Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter”, she had herself tattooed in traditional Yakuza style, a tattoo that winds its way to her chest and across her back, culminating, on her left shoulder, in the face of a Muromachi-era courtesan with breast exposed and a knife clenched between her teeth. She’s a daughter of a yakuza boss. She grew up in the house of a crime boss, spent her teens in a fog of hard drugs and sex, then careened from one doomed relationship to another with a succession of violent petty gangsters. Her life has been scarred by beatings, addiction and several attempted rapes and suicides.

Her battle scars make her sound like a casualty from a war zone– broken bones and teeth, perforated eardrums, a hernia, bald patches from having her hair pulled out and hepatitis, probably from drug use. Plastic surgery has helped reconstruct her face.

She does not believe she is alone among yakuza offspring in having had a turbulent childhood. She said “Japanese society looks very calm on the surface, but underneath it is in turmoil, discrimination is rife”. “There is a big difference between becoming a single mother after a divorce and because you choose to be one.” But she is adamant that she would not change her past. “I had a hard time as the daughter of a gangster, but looking back I wouldn’t have lived my life any other way. I am proud that my father was a yakuza. I know this is a world that has no proper place for women. But I have his DNA.”, she added.

Tendo turned her life around before writing her biography. The book offers a rare woman’s view of Japan’s criminal underbelly, a cruel world ruled by “chinpira” (young yakuza punks), many of whom seem to have beaten the daylights out of her.

Bring Neanderthals back to life?

// February 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Science and Technology

Scientists have unraveled the genetic code for man’s closest cousin using fragments of bone found across Europe. The blueprint could provide the information on the Neanderthal’s looks, intelligence, health, and habits and what makes us human.

It is also possible to bring our ancient relatives who died out around 30,000 years ago back from the death! Researcher Professor Jean Jacques Hublin said “Studying the Neanderthals and the Neanderthal gnome will tell us what makes modern humans really human, why we are alone, why we have these amazing capabilities that allowed our ancestors to draw paintings, to create complex symbols.”

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute in Germany and US colleagues sequenced more than 1 billion fragments of DNA extracted from bones of Neanderthal men, women, and children that lay undiscovered in caves in Croatia, Spain, Germany, and Russia for up to 70,000 years.

They have decoded 63 percent of the Neanderthal’s DNA and have started comparing it with the man’s genetic code to work out what makes us human.

The research so far shown that the Neanderthals don’t have the gene that allows most Europeans to digest milk as adults.

However, lead researcher Prof. Svante Paabo said “To clone a Neanderthal with the DNA we extracted from fossils is and will remain impossible. You could add Neanderthal genes into an animal model and look at the effects but that is as far as I would go to making a Neanderthal”.