Trace Your Roots With African DNA Testing

We frequently associate DNA testing with confirming paternity of the child only. However DNA testing has a much more diverse role to play, it has applications in forensic science,genetic disorders,scientific research as well as tracing one's lineage. African DNA testing has helped several people to trace their roots and link to the past.

Knowing where your ancestors belonged to gives you a sense of identity and pride.This is where African DNA testing can help you.Africans were brought to the USA several years ago and as families were split, few retained knowledge of their homeland and tribe. Africa is a vast continent with innumerable tribes. Its people attach great importance to the place they belong.Knowledge of your lineage also helps you to connect to people with similar backgrounds and link to ethnic support groups with certainty.It can help you to learn about your culture and customs that are unique to your ancestors.

As we all know DNA testing can be used to confirm not only parentage but also relationships, such as grand parentage, siblingship and so on.However it can also be used to trace your ancestry with the help of mtDNA testing for maternal ancestry and Y-STR for paternal ancestry. The Y-chromosome basically remains the same over several generations and this can help to trace your paternal lineage.Short tandem repeats (STR)in the Y-chromosome are studied to identify the Y-haplogroup of the person. The haplogroups reveals the geographic origin of the person.But as Y-chromosomes are inherited only by the male child, a female wanting to trace her paternal lineage will have to provide her brother or father's DNA sample.On the other hand,mitochondrial DNA testing can help to trace your maternal lineage.

A person inherits mitochondrial DNA only from the mother and its hyper variable regions (HVR)can reveal the haplogroups of the person.MtDNA undergoes slight changes every 1500 years and therefore are a reliable source of information regarding ancestry.A deep clade test that also studies HVRI and HVRII reveals more detailed information regarding percentage of all your ancestors.Thus African DNA testing can not only help you to trace out from which region of Africa you belong to but will also tell you how much of it is African and where does the rest come from.

If you opt for African DNA testing you will be required to submit home samples using the sample collection kit sent by the DNA testing laboratory.Normally buccal swabs are the preferred sample collection method which is absolutely painless.The result will reveal your genetic matches which will help you to connect with people of the same ancestry.You can even build up your family tree and share your family history with other members of your family as well as your children.Additionally it helps you to clarify any legend that runs in your family regarding your ancestry. African DNA testing can open the doors to hitherto unknown aspects of your lineage and help you get in touch with your roots again.