DNA, epigenetics and the family tree

 

As DNA testing became more main stream and databases grew more education was offered on how to use this new genealogical tool. Much of it has left me in the dust, trying to grasp the concepts being taught over and over again. I think I have a handle on the basic concepts but haven't put in the time to colour code my matches that the DNA whizzes I know do automatically. Part of it is a time thing. Like many areas of expertise, it took those whizzes years of practice and work on their own match lists to get their DNA cousins into line. At times it feels like everyone else is in on the secret to successfully using DNA in their family tree research leaving me behind before I start.

What I need is an in. Some researchers seem to have found a fascination with adding ancestors to various line on their family trees. This was all helped along by Ancestry's coloured dots. It reminds me of those students in school, mostly girls, who used coloured tabs to create organized notebooks. They looked so good I envied them but not enough to invest the time to get my own looking that way. So cool coloured dots look to me like a lot of work rather than an enticing coding system.

A more recently recognized aspect of DNA has caught my interest, however. That is epigenetics, the turning off and on of gene expression. When I first read about it, the written sources related it to trauma. Most examples were extreme trauma affecting whole populations as the holocaust and the systematic mistreatment of indigenous peoples were often cited as examples of trauma carried down through the generations. As I hadn't found any link to those groups in my family tree, I thought epigenetics couldn't possibly affect my family. But further reading showed that the effects weren't just a big picture whole population kind of thing, the effects were also seen at the family level.

As I think about the ancestor I'm currently profiling, my maternal great grandmother, I know some of the traumatic events in her life and the life of her family. Perhaps those traumas were carried down to the present day. This deserves more study, DNA related study. Perhaps this is my in into the use of DNA in my family tree.