GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [DNA] Newbie questions...
Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2002 09:57:37 EDT

In a message dated 07/01/02 4:27:16 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:


> I want to find out if I am related to a particular male individual who
> died in 1788. The last male in my family who might have contributed
> Y-chromosome material died in the 1980s. I have some wallet cards and a
> few older documents that he handled, but nothing else that I can think
>

I'd be skeptical that enough DNA could be recovered from material that was
simply handled. Skin cells would have to be rubbed off during the handling,
then adhere to the documents. Then there is the question of how well the DNA
was preserved over the 20-some years. The material was probably kept dry,
which is good, but it might have been exposed to light, which is not good.
And finally, there is the question of "chain of custody" -- how do you know
that no one else has handled the documents in the interim? The expense of
determining whether DNA is present would be considerable, so it seems to me
that the risk-reward ratio isn't good.

If you'd still like to pursue this in spite of my pessimism, you might want
to write to some forensic laboratories. Terry Carmichael at
http://www.genetree.com might also be able to advise you (click the "Request
Information'" link). They have some experience in handling unusual samples
such as chewing gum.

And to conclude on a more optimistic note, there was a recent journal article
which reported recovering DNA from the ear piece of a telephone. The URL
below will probably be split by the time RootsWeb sends out the mail. It
starts with http and ends with Abstract, so you can copy that much and paste
it into NotePad, delete the carriage return, copy the revised text and paste
that into your browser. Alternatively, messages in the archives seem to have
longer line lengths, and the URL might be intact there. The link for the
archives can be found off the URL below my signature.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&;
list_uids=12051345&dopt=Abstract

J Forensic Sci 2002 May;47(3):605-8
Mitochondrial DNA and STR typing of matter adhering to an earphone.
Seo Y, Uchiyama T, Matsuda H, Shimizu K, Takami Y, Nakayama T, Takahama K.



>
> His sister is my mother, still living at 94. Will a mtDNA test yield
> usable results? I have tried to figure out the possibility, but all
>


No, the mtDNA test will give you information only about your mother's
mother's mother's mother....

The alternative is to search for some male cousins who would have inherited
the Y chromosome from Mr. Died In 1788. We'd need to know more about the
family setup to figure out if this is useful. Is it the case that you know
someone who is definitely descended from him via another male child, but your
link is not proven? Did your uncle's grandfather or great-grandfather have
other male children with living descendants in a straight male line?



> I would also like to preserve my mother's DNA for future testing, but
> haven't found any search results on RootsWeb regarding that. Can
> someone point me to a web site, or even give brief instructions? Can a
> mouth swab be saved even though it dries out? One comment I read said
> hair samples should include roots; can that be allowed to dry out?
> Data... I need more data...
>

I did a lot of research on this question, and my conclusion was that a mouth
swab (also called buccal swab) saved on a card with a special preservative
called FTA is the most economical and effective method. The preservative
prevents damage from bacteria and enzymes, and the card is stored inside a
foil envelope to protect it from light. I offer kits on my web site
http://www.dnafiler.com.

Hair is another possibility. Mitochondrial DNA can be retrieved from the
shaft of the hair, but nuclear DNA does require roots. The disadvantage of
this would be extra processing fees if you did have the sample analyzed in
the future. The GeneTree web site mentions $200 as the cost for specimens
other than blood and buccal swabs.

Now if mtDNA is the only thing you're interested in, then you (or your
siblings) could supply the sample. But I do think that different DNA tests,
using other chromosomes, will be available in the future. Everyone in a
family group has inherited different pieces of the parental DNA, so I
advocate preserving samples from as many relatives as possible.

Ann Turner
GENEALOGY-DNA List Administrator
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Miscellaneous/GENEALOGY-DNA.html
DNA preservation kits: http://www.dnafiler.com

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• [DNA] Newbie questions... by Mac Hayes <>

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