How Can a Genetic Mother Find Her Genetic Children?

It is surprisingly simple for a genetic mother to find her genetic children. All it takes is a simple genetic test. These days genetic tests are widely and publicly available over the internet.

 

What Genetic Test to take?

The genetic test that identifies the link between a genetic mother and her children is known as an MtDNA test. MtDNA stands for Mitochondrial-DNA. The MtDNA is a part of the gene that is passed on from the mother to her children. All children from the same mother have the same MtDNA. Therefore it is a very clear and unambiguous link between a mother and her children.

How does the MtDNA test work?

It is very simple: you provide a sample of your saliva to a company that does such tests against a fee. That’s all you have to do.

How reliable is an MtDNA?

Very reliable. If both mother and child do a full sequence analysis then the reliability is almost 100%.

Where do I get an MtDNA test?

I recommend the FamillyTreeDNA (https://www.familytreedna.com/). They have a full sequence analysis of the MtDNA commercially available.

Although, a full sequence analysis is not necessary to start with as it can be expensive. You could start with a simpler test and then increase the analysis level if you suspect a match. How do you see a match? Read the next section.

How do I match my MtDNA with another persons’ MtDNA?

Once you have taken a test at FamillyTreeDNA, you can upload your results in a database called Mitosearch (www.mitosearch.org ) with a single click. It is almost automatic. Mitosearch is the biggest mitochondrial database in the world. Once your data is in there, a single click will start matching your MtDNA with all the others in the database and show you the matches immediately!

You can even do all this anonymously if you don’t want to give your real name to FamilyTreeDNA or Mitosearch. You can use a nickname.

Mitosearch and other similar databases are expanding very quickly. If we all start using this database, very quickly we will start seeing hits.

 

Conclusion

So, the process is extremely simple and commercially available. Anyone can provide a saliva sample and then do a few clicks online! It seems a bit complicated at the beginning but once you have done it, you realize that it is simpler than going to the grocery shop.

Our daughter was conceived through a IVF in Spain (IVI Barcelona) in the summer of 2006 under the anonymity law. We have already loaded our daughter’s MtDNA in mitosearch and are optimistic that some day we will get a match in the years to come. 

All it takes is enough people doing the MtDNA test and uploading their data in mitosearch.

JFG