You may have heard of DNA tests being done by your friends to gain knowledge of where they came from, their true heritage, and bonding with their ancestors. DNA testing is often done by forensic scientists to solve a crime or prove a suspect’s innocence.
Paternity tests have become known to be one of the main reasons why DNA tests are now available to be done at home. You may be required to do a paternity test for legal reasons or personal reasons, but you are not sure what you should consider when doing a DNA test.
From how DNA tests work to paternity test cost, keep reading to learn everything you need to know before doing a DNA test.
What is a paternity test?
Similar to the process of fingerprints, each person has their own individual fingerprint that separates them from others. Paternity testing matches the child’s DNA with the father’s DNA and the mother’s DNA, if it’s required.
A child will share 50% of their DNA with the biological father and the other 50% with the biological mother. A home DNA paternity test will show whether there’s a match between the child’s sample and the alleged father’s sample.
How are paternity tests done?
Paternity tests can be done at the doctor’s office by doing a cheek swab, and it later gets sent out to a lab to find a match between the parent’s sample and the child’s sample.
A more common way of doing a paternity test is through purchasing a DNA testing kit. After receiving the DNA test kit, you will be instructed to spit saliva into a tube or collect it through a cheek swab, and mailing your sample back to the lab.
After 3 to 5 weeks, the lab sends you the testing results that shows if you are the biological parent or not.
Will the company store your sample?
Many DNA testing companies ask for permission from their customers to store their samples to match with other DNA samples in future to make ancestry connection between your sample and another sample. Essentially, DNA testing wants to collect a lot of data to help their customers find their family tree and learn more about their history.
How do I choose the right DNA testing service?
The price of DNA testing is often the one thing people base their decision on, but there are many aspects when it comes to DNA testing that we need to look for. One of those aspects is finding a lab with credentials. Accredited lab will give you a peace of mind by trusting that your samples will be handled with care and the testing will be accurate.
If you decide to take a paternity test at home for legal reasons, it’s important to ensure that the test results will be accepted in court. For the paternity test to be court admissible, an approved third party must witness the testing and the lab.
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