Bored PandacontactedTiffany Roy, the president of ForensicAid, andDr. Dan Kraneof Forensic Bioinformatics, for more information about DNA testing and their opinion on this unique situation.
More info:Reddit
Racism is no match for actual DNA evidence, and this rude father-in-law was in for a shock when he was presented with genetic testing results
Image credits:Harrison Haine (not the actual photo)
A man shared that in the first interaction with his wife’s parents, he realized that her father was extremely racist, and it almost messed up their relationship
Image credits:Steven Arenas (not the actual photo)
Since he was interested in his family history, he, his wife, and two kids took a DNA test, the results showed that his son had 2% Congo DNA while his wife had 8%
Image credits:CDC (not the actual photo)
Image credits:u/cheddarburner
The man shared that the genetic test results “shifted the power dynamic” between him and his FIL
Ancestry tests might provide surprising information, which is why many people are interested in taking them. These genetic tests tell stories of the past and help us connect the dots about who we indeed are. It is estimated that approximately21% of Americanshave taken a mail-inDNA test. People usually undergo genetic testing to learn more about their ethnic heritage or to understand their disease risk and the chances of it being passed to their future children.
According to Tiffany Roy, the forensic DNA expert we consulted, “DNA testing is like any other human endeavor. It’s not without error and bias. It’s not a perfect science so it really just depends on several different factors how that might impact a person’s ethnicity. The accuracy is dependent on the knowledge, training and experience of each individual analyst handling the evidence. Some are very good. Too many are subpar.”
When the poster received his test results, he found that he had Scandinavian, English, Irish, and Scottish heritage. However, he realized his youngest child’s report showed 2% Congolese DNA. Eventually, when he confronted his wife, her report showed that she had 8% Congo DNA, which is when he put the pieces together and realized that this genetic strain came from her parents.
To help us understand these percentages better, here’s what Professor Dan Krane had to say: “Genetic testing for ancestry purposes looks at a large number of places along the length of an individual’s chromosomes and compares what is found to that which has been seen in a number of different populations of individuals. If 8% of the regions that these tests characterize are similar to those that were found in a Congolese reference group, for instance, then a customer would get a report that says that they have an 8% Congolese ethnicity estimate.”
He also stated, “The tests themselves are quite accurate in terms of the information that they get from a person’s DNA. We should be less confident about our understanding of the populations that that information is compared to — ‘Congolese. for instance, may not mean the same thing today that it meant 200 years ago and may not have ever been that well-defined a population to begin with.”
Image credits:Mikhail Nilov (not the actual photo)
A person’s genetichistorycomes from their parents, grandparents, and all the ancestors before them. The type of DNA you inherit is random, and your parents might have characteristics they don’t pass down to you at all. If you look at seven generations back, less than1% of your DNAis likely to have come from your ancestors.
To understand more of the FIL’s genetic role in this story, Dr. Dan Krane stated: “Grandparents typically account for between 20 and 30 percent of a person’s DNA. More distant relatives account for smaller percentages. An inheritance between 3 and 7% could come from a person’s 3rd, 4th, 5th or even 6th great-grandparents. Something like 8% could be from a great, great-grandparent (but there are other possibilities as well like both a great, great, great-grandparent as well as a great, great, great, great-grandparent).”
Dr. Dan Krane also shared examples: “There are many well-publicized instances of people being surprised at what ancestry testing has revealed. The ones that I find most remarkable are those where an individual finds that they have a number of unknownhalf-siblings— either because of extra-marital relationships that one or both of their parents were having, or because of fertility doctors using their own sperm to help women become pregnant.”
Commenters were glad the poster could stand up to his FIL, and many shared similar experiences of getting surprising DNA test results
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