DNAprint Genomics (DNAG)

[mingwan0]

I don't remember seeing this article from the Pittsburg Tribune posted previously:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com:8000/x/tribune-review/columnists/seate/s_144133.html

Colorblind DNA yields surprises for most
By Mike Seate
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, July 11, 2003

How many times have you heard a friend, neighbor or co-worker claim an exotic ethnic heritage? "I happen to be one-quarter Cherokee Indian" has nearly become a cultural cliche among people hoping to appear spiritual, earthy and different. It's unlikely you'll hear anyone claiming kinship with Mongols, Uzbeks and other Northern Asian tribes. That heritage is far more common among caucasian families, according to Tony Frudakis, chief scientific officer and founder of Ancestry by DNA.

The Florida firm has run a provocative advertisement in several local publications. The ads ask, "Just how white or black are you?" and offer an Internet address and phone number.

Since opening the DNA testing laboratory last year, Frudakis' team of geneticists has examined the branches of 3,000 family trees. In most cases, customers are surprised at what they learn about great-granddad's personal life.

"The test is basically geared for people who are either adopted and don't know who their parents are, or genealogists and other people with questions about their family roots," said Frudakis, who helped design the testing process used by forensic crime labs.

"Most people come away knowing that our demography is much more complex than they realize," he said.

Liaisons from the distant past resurface through these tests, which cost between $158 and $1,000 -- depending on how deep you want to dig. For example, Frudakis said the overwhelming majority of Scandinavian Europeans who have come in for testing end up learning there's Asian blood -- and lots of it -- in their backgrounds.

"Europeans of Russian or Eastern Scandinavian descent exhibit a significant amount of East Asian blood, dating back to the various Mongol invasions. It's not what people are expecting to hear," he said. The DNA is culled from a saliva sample, which can take the researches back 10,000 to 100,000 years. The process was developed in collaboration with Dr. Mark Shriver at Penn State University's Department of Anthropology.

Gazing into the confusing and often unsettling abyss of ethnic heritage reveals that our differences are more political than racial. Frudakis says the races have been mixing it up for a long time. Descendants of Thomas Jefferson might be in denial about his relationships with his slaves, but such liaisons have left a mark.

Those Cherokee great-grandparents we hear about? Most are myth, Frudakis said. "Most of that comes from a family story or legend. About half the people who think they had Indian ancestors had none."

African-Americans with Indo-European blood or Europeans with Central American ancestry are much more common.

Despite providing people with facts about their racial composition that most of us won't be discussing around the water cooler, Frudakis said he has had just a few customers challenge the test results.

"We've had people question their results," he said. "But after we explain to them that they've always looked at race through a geopolitical lens, and that nature belies racial classifications and doesn't quite work that way, they understand.

"Best of all, it teaches us that science makes it very hard for us to be racist."