*Collaborative post.

I recently got the opportunity to have an ancestry DNA test done with Living DNA and I jumped at the chance. If you read my last post about me wanting to have an ancestry DNA test done, you will know how eager I was to get this test done. It has been on mind for years now, so I was very happy when I got the chance to do this.

For those who have never heard of this test before, it is a 3 in 1 DNA ancestry test like no other by Living DNA. The results of the test will tell you who you are and where you come from. It answers questions you may have surrounding your family ancestry and shows your full history.

The Process

Once I got the Living DNA sampling kit, I got it activated on the website and then I followed the instructions on the kit. I took a cheek swab and had the pack sent back. Within 36 hours, I got an email confirming they have received my kit and were working on my swab. Within 3 weeks, I got an email informing me that my results were now ready and I could view it in my online account. I wasn’t prepared for what I read.

The results cover 3 aspects of DNA – Family Ancestry (Autosomal DNA), Motherline Ancestry (mtDNA) and Fatherline Ancestry (Y-DNA, males only).

Family Ancestry (Autosomal DNA)

This part of the test looks at my ancestors in recent times (about 10 generations ago). The 90.7% African ancestry was expected but I thought the figure would be a lot higher. I didn’t expect to see the 7.6 European and 1.7 Near East. That was a shock. The 7.6 European part (France) is mainly from my father’s side from the looks of it. While the 1.7 Near East (Turkey) is mainly from my mother’s side according to the Motherline Coverage Map.

Motherline Coverage Map (mtDNA)

This part of the test looks at my direct maternal ancestry. It was interesting to read about my Motherline. I found the Motherline Coverage Map (mtDNA) very informative. It was good to see all the regions where we share a common ancient ancestor.

The highest on the Map were Chad, Kenya and Mozambique with 38%. I thought Nigeria would be at the top but it was down in the middle at 18%. Portugal, Syria and Equitorial Guinea were at the bottom of the Map at 1% each. The information on the map has definitely given me food for thought.

We are all connected

It is interesting to see how we humans are all connected. These results have definitely given me something to think about and I can see myself doing some more digging. It has answered many of my questions surrounding my genetic ancestry and I am happy I got the opportunity to do it.

You can get yours done by buying the kit on the Living DNA website for £99. I bet your results would fascinate you like mine fascinated me.

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