I know.  You are desperate to play the game.  To search for your ancestors.

Not all of us are lucky enough to have living relatives who know our history.  I learned about mine from my grandparents and great-grandparents.  And, since part of the story always sounded just a “little”, I engaged in some fairly early DNA research.  But, that certainly is different from the kind that is done now.

It will help if you remember a little of your high school biology- that we have two sets of chromosomes- and X and a Y (if we are male) or two X’s (female).  Each of these chromosomes are comprised of DNA.  When comparing DNA from different people, the longer lengths of shared DNA segments indicate closer relatives.

As I said, the Y chromosome is the chromosome that makes one male.  And, most of that chromosome (except for providing the ‘male’ characterization) is non-coding DNA.  And, this chromosome is passed along from father to son- with nary a change- except for some rare mutations that continue along the hereditary line.  These are called “haplotypes”, and provide a ‘genetic signature’ of one’s ancestry.  And, that was the test I had done.  To see if the story that we used to be Kohanim (the Hebrew word for priestly status) held any water.

You see, the studies had determined that an extremely high percentage of those who claimed to be Kohanim had the haplotype.  That’s true whether one is Sfardi, Ashkenazi, Mizrachi, from Europe, from India, or from South Africa.  (It’s my supposition that those that lack the haplotype are either lying or deluded about their ancestry.  Oh- my ancestors didn’t lie.)

But, that sort of testing is very different than that provided by Ancestry.com, Heliz, My Heritage or 23 and me.  These firms do a complete DNA analysis of the sample you submit.  These four DNA testing authorities promise to tell you all.  They provide you generalized ideas of from where you came (and the more testing they do, the more accurate these suppositions are).  But, DNA can’t really tell from where you come. But, with the proper algorithms, even using anonymous data, researchers can identify third cousins or closer for more than half of those folks who have European origins.  (This is because the databases have predominantly folks of European origin.  At the opposite end of the spectrum would be those from Sub-Saharan Africa, where the data is extremely sparse.)

These tests can certainly reveal our risk of a future medical condition.  One that will make it very difficult for those with the markers to obtain health insurance (as the GOP destroys Obamacare) or employment in the future.  Or, those test results can open up discrimination problems for our children- or provide them with data they don’t really want to know.

And, don’t forget that law enforcement agencies are now taking DNA samples from almost everyone they arrest.  (The Supreme Court ruled this was admissible back in 2013.) And, much of that data is retained in CODIS (the COmbined Dna Index System), the federal database.   And, the private database, GEDmatch, is almost able to identify the cousins of every American of Northern European descent (primary users of its site).  (Folks share their data on the site, the data obtained from the four big DNA testing entities  GEDmatch also collects blood data!)

But, since these firms consider it acceptable to share their databases with the authorities, DNA testing can create all sorts of problems for you and your relatives.  So far, some very old (as much as those from a  half-century ago) crimes have been solved- murder and rape cases.

How?  Genetic genealogy.  Where DNA samples are examined for patterns so that relatives of those who were willing to get their DNA tested can now be found by the authorities.

And, here’s the real problem.  Cops (and other law enforcement personnel) usually need to obtain a warrant or judge’s approval to search for matches to a suspect in a law-enforcement database.  But, that is no impediment to their using GEDmatch- they just upload the DNA and obtain data on cousins and other relatives in short order, with nary a restriction.

Dr. Noah Rosenberg developed an algorithm (computational method) that can cross-match CODIS to an SNP profile (that’s the data that the four DNA firms provided and is stored by those who upload same to GEDmatch).  Thankfully, Rosenberg’s algorithm only works for first-degree relatives (siblings, moms, dads, kids).  But you can bet that there will be much effort expended to improve this process, thereby snaring many folks without notifying them and by violating their constitutional rights against unreasonable searches.

That is one of the newest cases in Alexandria.

A lifeguard was raped at gunpoint some 3 years ago.  She identified the perpetrator to the police as a thin man, 35 to 40 y old, and slightly over 6 feet. Last year, Jesse Bjerke had been arrested. How did the police find him?

The DNA from the rape kit was subjected to genetic genealogy analysis and a match was found to Bjerke’s family.  (He is also now a suspect in other such rapes.)

But, how did the cops get Jesse’s DNA?   They collected beer bottles, soda cans, and an apple core from his trash.  (Collecting trash  is legal.  But, the Supreme Court has not ruled on genetic material obtained from abandoned items.  And, even so, that would have little effect on state court decisions.)  That DNA (the test was effected by Parabon, hired by the police, to use the GEDmatch search)  ‘could not be eliminated’ as a match for the sperm from the rape kit- and so he was arrested.  Then, WITH a warrant, another sample was taken and compared directly to  the rape kit DNA.  The chances that the rape kit did not contain his DNA was 1 in 7.2 billion. (That’s 1 in 7.2X10⁹!)

His attorney, Chris Leibig, is demanding this DNA evidence be thrown out of court because he asserts that assembling and testing a genetic profile without a warrant violates the Constitution.

The Alexandria Circuit Court (via Judge Lisa Kemler) rejected the defense argument that a genealogical report is insufficient evidence for the police to obtain a warrant- or that a warrant is even required.  She felt the DNA evidence is akin to a fingerprint.  (Most defense lawyers consider DNA to be akin to a smartphone investigation, which does require a warrant in the Commonwealth.)

The one clear change that resulted from the Alexandria court case is the GEDmatch now requires users to OPT IN to share information with law enforcement.  GEDmatch claims this will only be used “to identify a perpetrator of… murder, non-negligent manslaughter, aggravated rape, robbery, or aggravated assault.”

Yeah, right.

So, remember that DNA test you take may convict your brother, mother, son, or daughter- or your cousin.