Heritage Album

Why is it that women's DNA is not used to trace family trees?

Public Comments

1. says who?
2. because of the male chromosomes! the X and Y males give more important chromesomes than weoman therefore most of DNA comes from guys!
3. Yes it has something to do with chromosomes and stuff. For women, they test the mitochondrial DNA.
4. It is, like the male can only trace the paternal line, the female traces the maternal line. This question more properly belongs either in genealogy or biology.
5. I thought it was only women's DNA that was used. Mitochondrial DNA if I am not mistaken.
6. It is - read "Daughters of Eve". There is one test that uses the "Y" Chromosone. Since we men get it from our dads, and women don't have it, the "Y" chromosone isn't a mixture of mom's DNA and dad's DNA; it is 100% dad - back for many generations. That makes it easy to trace. If the Y's from someone else named Pack and me match on 37 out of 37 points, that means we both got our Y's from a common ancestor Pack. If we don't then either somone fooled around, or someone was adopted, or there were two Pack families who are not related. That also means the Y test is only good for sons of sons of sons . . . My (male) cousin on my mother's side got HIS Y chromosome from his dad, not his mother, so his and mine won't match at all.
7. It is! Often, there is no doubt about who the mother of a child is, so there is no need to test. Paternal DNA testing is more common for this reason. There is very little DNA data available on the general population, especially on those who lived before DNA testing became common and inexpensive. But, when looking at human ancestry, scientists use female DNA more than male. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited exclusively from the mother, and because it changes slowly and at a predictable rate is a great tool for determining where we came from. Lucy, the hypothetical prehistoric ancestor of all modern humans, was identified using mitochondrial DNA.
8. I'm a peferct example that that isn't true!
9. the seed and bloodline come from the males...