how is the DNA collected for testing?
There is no blood drawn, no visits to a doctor or lab, and no real inconveniences of any kind. The testing company mails out a test kit that includes a couple of cheek swabs and the consent form—view FTDNA’s test kit. The testee simply follows the instructions for scraping the inside of their cheek and re-packaging the swabs, signs the consent form, and mails the kit back to the testing company. The Y-STR DNA test results are typically received within two to four weeks. Most companies offer to keep the DNA sample in storage so further testing can be ordered at a later date without the need to send in another sample. Now, how do these Y-STR DNA test results help us with our genealogy? On its own, a male’s haplotype (his particular set of DYS marker allele values) is not of much genealogical value. It is when the haplotypes of two or more people are compared that biological relationships are revealed (or disproved) and genealogists are aided in constructing their family history with a hi
