DNA tests can challenge your notions of ethnicity and family history

I'm a one-man melting pot. Published Jan. 26, 2015 at 9:01 a.m.

The numbers are tiny, but in a way, they're exactly what I was hoping for when I had my DNA tested by AncestryDNA.

You know, that moment when Henry Louis Gates Jr. shocks the famous guest on "Finding Your Roots" with unexpected data.

When my results arrived, there was no major surprise. This Italian-, German-, English-American boy is the proud owner of 98 percent "European" chromosomal goodness. But nestled within that statistic is three percent European Jewish (doesn't say whether Sephardic or Ashkenazy). The remaining two percent? Middle Eastern!

Most people want to know why I tested myself and I don't really have an answer beyond plain ol' curiosity. I climbed the mountain because it was there and to see what was on the other side.

And, says Christine Kenneally, author of "The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures," that hazy expectation is pretty common among folks who take the test, which is offered by a handful of companies.

"Usually it's a mix of questions about ancestry and health," she says. "Many people I spoke to were actually looking for a reason to justify doing something as seemingly grandiose as sending off a sample and getting their DNA analyzed.

"People are intrigued but they are still unclear what they can get out of it. They think they need a specific question to justify doing it. But the truth is what everyone gains is at least as valuable as what any one person might gain. They gain information about the past and the future of humanity, about the tiniest building blocks of their family and the way they get shuffled through time."

The companies that do the testing maintain databases that are helping to get a picture of the genetic diversity but also the genetic commonalities around the world. These databases are how companies like Ancestry draw their conclusions about ethnic makeup.

I spit into a vial, sealed it, mailed it off to Utah and a few weeks later ... voila! ... I'm two percent Middle Eastern.

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DNA tests can challenge your notions of ethnicity and family history