GPS Origins DNA test

It is an autosomal DNA test, also called SNP test. It extracts markers from your Y-chromosome DNA, X-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA.

There are four types of DNA:

• Y-DNA, which only appears on the Y chromosome, is passed from father to son across generations and inherited only by humans.
• X-DNA, which only exists on the X chromosome, is inherited by the women of both parents and by the men by the mother.
• Mitochondrial DNA (also called mitochondria or mtDNA) is passed down the maternal line and inherited by sons and daughters, but only by women. This is the least interchangeable type of DNA found outside the cell nucleus, not on a chromosome.
• Autosomal DNA can be inherited from hundreds of thousands of your ancestors throughout the ages. Autosomal DNA is in 22 chromosomes and provides 90% of your DNA.

This test examines nearly 80,000 of your autosomal markers (SNPs) and compares them to the distinctive mutations of 41 gene pools in more than 1,000 reference populations. This identifies where and when your DNA was last modified.

Your results will show the origin as a point on a map. Any expected error appears as a circle around the point - the smaller the circle, the more accurate the result. The accuracy also depends on the size of the reference population in a given area; the larger the reference group, the more accurate the results will be.

The GPS Origins DNA test allows you to trace your DNA back around 1,000 years or more to the point/place where your DNA started.

The test uses 41 global gene pools to calculate the genetic signature of your autosomal DNA. Then, it compares your unique DNA signature to more than 1,000 populations worldwide (who we know have lived in one place for a long time) to locate the beginning of your DNA. In some cases, GPS Origins traces your DNA at the village or city level. Finally, it calculates two genetic lines by tracing the migration paths of your DNA, using its old signature that dates back in time.

The test looks at the genetic composition of your DNA—your DNA signature—and compares it to a database of over 10,000 signatures from 1,000+ populations with known geographic locations to identify the place where it began about 1,000 years ago.

We have identified 41 gene pools around the world. Each human population is made up of a mixture of these gene pools. In the distant past, individual migrations were rare. Genetic mixing tended to occur when large groups of people moved from one area to another, through invasion or mass migration. As the incoming gene pool mixed with the local one, a new genetic signature was created across the whole population.

The GPS Origins test assumes that your DNA signature is unique to you but shares many characteristics with the populations or tribes from which it originated. By comparing your DNA to the signature mixes within different populations, GPS Origins can pinpoint the origin of your DNA.

The algorithm works out the differences or genetic ‘distance’ between your DNA and the DNA population signatures in our database, and converts them to geographic distances. Then, like a car satellite navigation system, it uses the distances to calculate the coordinates of your DNA origin, which marks the spot where your DNA most recently changed at the population level. It occurs when two different populations came together and created your DNA signature.

Using a similar method, GPS Origins then works backward to find two more points and plots the journey to where your DNA was mixed. It repeats this calculation for each element of your parental DNA.