The MyHeritage DNA kit is an autosomal DNA test for genetic genealogy that discovers your relatives by matching you to millions of people who tested their DNA with MyHeritage. This test also provides a percentage-based ethnicity breakdown, based on 79 ethnic regions around the world. You will discover where your ancestors came from and how much of your DNA originates from each region.
Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. The first 22 pairs of chromosomes are called the 'autosomal' chromosomes. An autosomal DNA test looks at these 22 pairs and tries to identify matching segments between different individuals. If two or more individuals share the same DNA segments, they are considered to be a "DNA match", and are highly likely to be relatives (close or distant). The linked DNA segments are composed of DNA markers known as SNPs (called snips). SNPs are the foundation of an autosomal DNA test.
An autosomal DNA test works by identifying a consecutive number of shared and linked SNPs. They are used because they change very slowly over time. When you inherit your DNA from each of your parents, the SNPs generally are passed to you unchanged. Because of this slow change, when you and another person both share a number of SNPs on the same chromosome, that DNA segment must have been inherited from a single source, a common ancestor.
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