Can I do a DNA test on myself? How much do they cost?

Depending on where you live a DNA test can range from $150.00 to $500.00 but you should check your phone book or on-line for local agencies and the fees. The most typical DNA test are a blood sample drawn from two or more of the parties involved or a saliva sample from your mouth, it is drawn with a cottom swob. Both are very accurate and result time is around the same. The saliva is usually cheaper. People prefer the blood test but your saliva contains as much of your DNA as your blood does. In my case, it was a paternity issue and we did both types. Our pictures were taken and both times samples were drawn from all three of us (my child, the father & myself) they take the DNA markings and compair them to the other parties. The similarities in markings determine the relation. Good look.

There are 3 types of DNA, Y, Mitochondrial and Autosomal. I believe Autosomal would be the best for what you are interested in. Best Answer - Chosen by Asker Please be patient with my lengthy answer but I won't to make sure you understand what you are buying when you buy DNA testing. Y & Mitochondrial are usually used for genealogy but they both represent a very tiny part of your ancestry. They are valuable if you are involved in family history and want to be able to match yourself with someone else or their family tree. Y goes from father to son only. In other words if a man had it done it would go back to his father and to his father and to his father and so on. Mitochondrial goes from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to their children. In other words it goes back to her and to her mother and to her mother etc. One company that only does Y & Mitochondrial will tell you they will help you discover your "deep ancestral roots." It is true in those 2 lines only they will show you the origin of your nomadic ancestor going back thousands of years but you come from a vast myriad of family lines. You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents. It doubles up each generation you go back. If you were a male in each generation you would be your Y from only one person and your Mitochondrial from only 1 person. If you are a female in each generation you would get your Mitochondrial from only 1 person. Now if you are using them in conjunction with family history and trying to match yourself with others, you no doubt will discover some of the left out people. The oldest company and the one that has the largest data base doing this is http://www.FamilyTreeDNA.Com Most of your DNA is Autosomal. You have 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. Only 2, 1 from each parent, is made up of a person's Y & Mitochondrial and they are the 2 that determine a person's sex. The other 44 chromosomes is Autosomal. You get Autosomal 50-50 from both parents BUT when you get back to your grandparents it will not be 25-25-25-25. Since Genealogy and Genetics are not the same thing I asked a question about this on the Biology Board and got the following reply: "Your mother's egg contributes one set of 22 autosomes and one sex chromosome (an X). Your father's sperm contributes the other set of 22 autosomes, and another sex chromosome (either an X or a Y). "Where the 50-50 part breaks down is when you pass on your DNA to your children. Each of your children will get half their DNA from you, but they won't necessarily get an equal mix of what you inherited from your parents. They could inherit a more from your mother, through you, and less from your father, or vice versa. "Another way to look at it: you inherited 50% of your autosomal DNA from each parent, but you didn't necessarily inherit exactly 25% from each grandparent. Your maternal grandparents contributed exactly 50% in total, but it could be biased in favor of either your maternal grandmother or your maternal grandfather. Same goes for your paternal grandparents. Source: Phd in Molecular Biology" There is one company that has over 900 batches of 100-150 samples of Autosomal DNA of people throughout the world. They will take your Autosomal DNA and show you your top matches in descending order. They will not tell you that you are 1/2 of something, 1/4 of something else and 1/4 of another something else. I would imagine they can't do that as the same DNA crosses national, racial and ethnic boundaries. There are no pure nationalities, races or ethnicities. The only company in the U.S. that I know of that does this is http://www.DNATribes.Com Now FamilyTreeDNA does do Autosomal testing but they will not give you any type of analysis. I think at one time they did. I had to send my results from them to DNATribes. I asked DNA Tribes if my sister with whom I share both parents had the same Autosomal test would her results be the same and they replied: "Two siblings will each obtain unique results. Family members do typically share some regional or ethnic genetic affiliations, but in some cases matches can vary substantially between siblings." I also asked DNATribes if they could break it down by parent and they replied: "To isolate each parent's genetic contribution in each case, it is necessary to test at least one parent as well." Here are 2 more websites that give some explanation on DNA http://www.smgf.org/pages/how_it_works.jspx http://www.pa.msu.edu/~sciencet/ask_st/060293.html