More About DNA

The science of molecular genetics has been very active in recent years.  Genetic testing for genealogy purposes has developed rapidly.  Want to learn more about DNA and genetic genealogy?   Just click on the links below.

Kevin Duerinck undertakes to maintain lists of the surname projects in progress. Over 300 have been logged.  Many of these projects have web sites which explain how the genetics work, how the testing is done, and how it is valuable to genealogy.  These sites are valuable sources of background information and most of them include sample data. For a rather comprehensive description see the above sites and also: Mumma, Clan Lindsay, and BFOOV.

For a bibliography to some of the important scientific literature on this subject see: Baucum.  This site also has a list of current surname projects.

Terry Barton has a web site where he attempts to provide all the information needed for genetic genealogy. Charles Kerchner also has a general purpose and helpful site. Kerchner's site is targeted more toward beginners.  Between the two of them they have links to pretty much anything our participants need to know. The problem is that they try to service a very broad audience and that makes is difficult to filter out the irrelevant information.  DNA Heritage is a competitor of FTDNA and offers a useful web site.

Two books were published recently which are relevant to our project. They provide a background in genetics and much information about interpreting DNA data. They are:

"Trace Your Roots with DNA," by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and Ann Turner.

"DNA and Family History," by Chris Pomery.

The books can be purchased from those web sites. Selected parts of the first book may be available to be read on-line.

Family Tree DNA, Inc. is the company which has done all the Beatty testing. Their website explains their services and why they are useful in genealogy.

Most of the discussion of the tests and results are described in some of the specialized language of genetics.  For a glossary of these terms see:  Edmund Rice Asso.