The DNA test result

Your DNA test result will have significant bearing on your life and in the choices you make thereafter. Many times for simplicity’s sake, the report is presented on a single page although some companies may give 8 page long documents which a lot of added information which is not of particular use.

Your paternity test result will show you all the genetic loci tested. Often 20 loci are located on the DNA profile of the father and the child. This is the standard accepted number of loci for accurate paternity test results. Testing less is not enough to provide you with accurate results.

For each locus tested, there will be two numbers shown on the DNA test result. These are essentially alleles and we inherit the alleles from our biological father and mother. If a genetic locus has alleles 2 and 8 for the child and the alleged father has alleles 8, 14- this means that the child inherited the 8 from the father and the 2 from the mother.

For an inclusion of paternity all genetic markers between alleged father and child will need to match. If the tested father is the biological father of the child, the paternity test result will state “the alleged father (often the name of the man is included) can be included as the biological father of the child”. If the tested man turns out not to share genetic loci with the child he will be excluded as the biological father; the result will read “the tested man is excluded as the biological father of the child”.

For an inclusion of paternity: the DNA test results will show an inclusion of 99.99% if the mother’s DNA samples are tested; if the mother’s DNA samples have not been tested, the results will still show a percentage inclusion of 99.9%.

The exclusion of paternity in cases where the tested man is not the biological father is always of 100%.

Your DNA test result will help you find closure and take decisions which are informed and base upon scientific evidence.