Growing the Family Tree: The Power of DNA in Reconstructing Family Relationships

The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation is building the world’s largest database of correlated genetic and genealogical information to enable genealogical research to be performed using DNA analysis techniques. DNA samples with associated 4-generation pedigree charts have so far been collected from approximately 40,000 volunteers. Up to 170 regions of DNA are currently analyzed for each individual, and the corresponding pedigree chart is extended as far as genealogical databases allow, to currently include over 700,000 ancestral records. By combining these two sets of correlated data on an unprecedented scale, we are enabling progress for the first time into the new field of “molecular