Genetic Genealogy - Your Third Cousin

“DNA is the fingerprint of 21st century”

Ever since the discovery of DNA, it has gradually opened several doors of opportunity and at its high time in this modern era, DNA has been used immensely for the advancement of consumer goods.

One such advancement is the genetic genealogy, where one has a chance to get to know about their ancestral genetics, family tree, long-lost relatives, etc. This is a billion-dollar evolving industry in America led by famous companies such as Ancestry and MyHeritage.

This genealogy testing has a huge advantage in tracking down criminals with just a tiny trace of their DNA. Indeed, this has helped to resolve the very famous Golden State Killer case of California after 44 years. JosephDeAngelo was accused as the Golden State Killer in 2020 of committing horrific 13 murders, 50 rapes, and 100 burglaries. This case took a long to resolve as he didn't leave any fingerprints, but possibly they collected his DNA from tissue in a trashcan.

Basically, the general public details are all stored in a database, for example, the information given for Aadharcard, like our unique fingerprints, address, and Id. But in the case of criminals, these details are never found. So, even though they get the fingerprints, the match cannot be found when running through the database. And that is why genealogy is employed.

The concept is that we all have 23 pairs of chromosomes and these chromosomes will have places called SNP (change in a single letter code of the DNA) and knowing where exactly the alteration in the single letter in two different people starts and stops, the shared DNA between them can be calculated. So the more DNA we share, the more closely related we are to them.

“A study by ancestry DNA found that an average person in the UK has 75 third cousins”

To dig a little deeper, your DNA is shared by 100s of people past, present and, future you. So, someone your far relative, or your third cousin has their DNA details in the database then there is a high chance your identity will be revealed easily.

And that’s how the unknown DNA of the golden state killer was identified and matched with JoshepDeAngelo within just 4 and half months of the genealogy study. But ethical and privacy concerns have emerged as DNA tests move from the scientific domain to a billboard one.

Interestingly, genealogy testing is also blooming in India and you can get your DNA tested in any NABL accredited laboratory for around Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000. So go, get yourself one tested because who knows, your DNA might help solve the murder committed by your third cousin!