GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

From:
Subject: RE: [DNA] 150 year old flag
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 23:57:01 -0400
In-Reply-To: <00b201c33e3d$5808ba40$8e718690@roslyn>

Rosalyn,

I suggest that you contact Ripan Mahli at www.tracegenetics.com for a
definitive answer. However, having recently been involved in forensic
extractions, I would have the following to say:

1. The DNA of your ancestor would likely NOT be preserved in the flag.
Flags are subject to ultraviolet light when flown, which kills DNA
pronto, so even assuming that there was DNA deposited, it is likely not
in a condition to be regenerative.
2. It would be practically impossible to tell any DNA retrieved apart
from any other. The easiest DNA to retrieve is mitochondrial DNA, the
shortest segment, and that DNA is passed from mother to female child,
unrecombined with the father's DNA. Given all things perfect, i.e. a
direct female line descendent to test for a mtDNA match, it's still not
proof, especially since a female relative restored the flag (assuming
that the female relative was in the direct mtDNA line of your ancestor).
3. Even if the DNA did match, and you could eliminate the other female
relatives (because they had different mtDNA from a different direct
female line), I would suggest to you that your ancestor could still have
touched the flag. So even if her DNA is there, it does not prove she
made it.
4. This is a long shot - but being a sewer myself, are there any scraps
left over from the making of the flag. Check a sewing box. You'd stand
a better chance from something like that as the sample itself would have
been more protected and less handled.

Roberta Estes


-----Original Message-----
From: Roslyn A Burke [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2003 8:53 AM
To:
Subject: [DNA] 150 year old flag

Not sure if I am in the right place but I have a question of whether DNA
testing can determine if my ancestor was the maker of a particular flag
about 150 years ago.
Family history says she was but historical evidence is mounting that she
wasn't. If she left samples of her DNA on the flag when she allegedly
sewed it together, can that be tested against a descendants DNA?
This is complicated by the fact that hundreds of people would have
touched the flag in the last 150 years plus a descendant was employed to
restore the flag 30 years ago so her DNA would be all over it anyway.
What do listers think?



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This thread:

• [DNA] 150 year old flag by "Roslyn A Burke" <>

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