A child inherits DNA from the mother’s egg (23 chromosomes) and the father’s $perm (also 23 chromosomes). Each parent contributes half of the child’s DNA. The child (and every person) has 23 pairs of chromosomes. For each location (“locus,” plural “loci”) in a chromosome pair there is a specific DNA sequence in each chromosome.
A DNA parentage test works by identifying the specific DNA sequences for multiple loci in the mother, child, and father. If the mother and father are the parents of the child, the two DNA sequences at each locus in the child’s chromosomes must have been inherited from each parent. By determining these DNA sequences, paternity or other familial relationships can be established.
You can visit HomeDNA.com for more information.
DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule which contains the biological instructions that make each species unique. DNA, along with the instructions it contains, is passed from adult organisms to their offspring during reproduction.
In organisms called eukaryotes, DNA is found inside a special area of the cell called the nucleus. Because the cell is very small, and because organisms have many DNA molecules per cell, each DNA molecule must be tightly packaged. This packaged form of the DNA is called a chromosome.
The Swiss biochemist Frederich Miescher first observed DNA in the late 1800s. But nearly a century passed from that discovery until researchers unraveled the structure of the DNA molecule and realized its central importance to biology.