Y Chromosome and DNA Testing

Let's discuss a fundamental piece of basic science; the chromosome, but in particular the function of the why's and wherefore's of the Y. This chromosome is inherited from your father's side, and allows the unravelling of male history. This powerful tool will allow an individual access into their own personal family inheritance, background and where we came from.

Often the term 'I don't know who I am, or where I belong' is partnered with the identity crisis of a person trying to identify their origins. Our DNA is unique to us and individuals, but it also becomes part of a bigger picture of self-identity from who our family are.

DNA is organised into 46 chromosomes, 23 inherited from their mother and 23 inherited from their father. Y-chromosome testing involves the analysis of 17 genetic markers (called STRs) on the Y chromosome to produce a YSTR profile.

In humans, the Y chromosome spans about 58 million base pairs (the building blocks of DNA) and represents approximately 2% of the total DNA in a male cell. The human Y chromosome contains over 200 genes, at least 72 of which code for proteins. Traits that are inherited via the Y chromosome are called holandric traits (although biologists will usually just say 'Y-linked'). It gets complicated, but bear with us.

The Y chromosome is the single largest piece of inherited DNA. Most typically women have two X chromosomes and men have an X and Y. For a female to discover the genetics of a Y chromosome (the line from her Father) she would need to investigate through her brother, as long as he had the same natural parents. The next best line would then be to investigate her father and then any subsequent paternal uncles.

So what is the female counterpart? Mitochondrial DNA. The scientific structures of who we are help define where we belong. And in discovering this, we also discovery our medical histories. Armed with more knowledge than ever before, we can begin to look at how disease began to sneak into our genomes and by looking into our ancestry, scientists such as Vanesa Hayes can use ancient genomes to provide a baseline in helping us understand modern diseases.

Our DNA not only unlocks who we are now, it unlocks who we were in the past and who we could be in the future. Science is a wonder and things can only get better.