What is DNA Paternity Testing?
Paternity means fatherhood. Paternity is established when a paternity testing laboratory uses genetic testing methods / DNA test, to demonstrate to a legal standard, that an alleged father is the biological father. Paternity is disproved when these same methods and standards demonstrate that an alleged father is not the biological father.
Before answering the question ‘what is DNA testing’ it is important to understand the question ‘what is DNA’. DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material in the cells of your body. There are 46 chromosomes in each cell apart from those in sperm cells and egg cells, which have only 23 chromosomes. At the moment of conception the two sets of 23 chromosomes combine to make the 46 necessary to create a person. Therefore a person receives half of his/her DNA from the mother and half from the Father. No two people will have exactly the same DNA except for identical twins. This feature of the way in which DNA is passed down from parents to child, is the basis of DNA paternity testing. DNA paternity testing detects certain parts, of the DNA make-up of an individual, which are known to have a high degree of variation from one person to another. By using several DNA tests the DNA at a number of these variable regions can be detected and compared to see if individuals are related.
A DNA paternity test compares a childs DNA pattern with that of the alleged father to prove or disprove their relationship with each other. We apply Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) V based analysis of Short Tandem Repeats (STR) of DNA fragments. By comparing the sizes of different STR loci, a unique genetic profile is produced for each tested individual. The childs profile is compared with the profile of the mother and alleged father to confirm that he or she has inherited DNA from the alleged father. We then perform statistical analysis to calculate the Paternity Index, which determines the probability of paternity. We routinely analyze 16 STR loci, which include, and exceed the 13 loci used by the FBI.
• What sort of samples are required for DNA Paternity Testing? • How do DNA Tests work? • What are the applications of DNA Testing? • How accurate is DNA-Based paternity testing? • Do I need permission from a doctor or lawyer to have a paternity test done? • Who has to have a sample taken? • What if one of the parents is deceased? • Is there any legal confidentiality policy adopted in America that ensures privacy of DNA testing results? • How is Red blood grouping testing and HLA testing different from DNA paternity testing? • Can DNA testing be done before the baby is born? • Can I preserve DNA samples? • What is a Paternity Index? • Can I cheat DNA Paternity testing? • Is it mandatory to get samples from mother? • What is the difference between a blood DNA test and a mouth swab DNA test? • Can hair samples be used for DNA paternity testing? • How old does the child need to be for paternity determination testing? • What if the two possible fathers are related? • What is the best sampl
