Project uses DNA to trace ancestry

WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- With a simple swipe of the inside of the cheek, scientists can now determine what part of the world a person's ancestors came from.

"Each of us contains within us our own genealogies ... a kind of record inside our DNA," Scott Woodward, president of the Sorenson Molecular Geology Foundation, told a recent genetics panel hosted in Washington by John Hopkins University.

The National Geographic Society, in partnership with IBM, plans to collect DNA samples from indigenous tribes throughout the world as part of their Genographic Project, a global effort to trace the origins of human ancestry. The team has already set up 10 regional centers around the world, each charged with sampling roughly 10,000 indigenous people from that region in order to form a database.

The public will also play a vital role in the early stages of project, said Spencer Wells, director of the project for NGS.

"We figured there might be some interest in the part of people who wouldn't be described as indigenous in finding out about their ancestry," Wells said.

A consumer can order a kit through the Genographic Project, get his or her own DNA tested anonymously, read the results, and even volunteer to be part of the scientific analysis.

Geography has been the main reason for genetic differences, said Aravinda Chakravarti, director of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Hopkins.

Essentially all of humanity has come from Africa, migrating upward and outward. Each person's genes have acted as footprints from their land of origin and reveal a determinable trace of the genes from thousands of years ago.

But finding out one's ancestry can be more than a pleasant surprise. Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, senior research scholar at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University Medical School, said that the results could literally be life-changing.

Lee told UPI that services to determine ancestry have become so readily available, particularly on the Internet, people forget to think about what the implications of learning their ancestry might be.

For instance, people may discover genetic information that completely disputes their believed identity, which can redefine how they feel about themselves, said Lee.

If a person had always identified with the African-American culture only to discover an Indian background, there could be some confusion as to which cultural group he or she really belongs.

Consumers also need to realize genographic science is still new and developing, experts said. The project database has about 20,000 of the targeted 100,000 samples, so while researchers are well on their way, the study is far from over. "It's a young science and we should question how accurately we can do it," said Chakravarti.

Ultimately, the goal of the project is to bring the world together. "We are all part of one extended family," said Wells, "separated by no more than a couple of thousand generations."