Your DNA comes from your biological parents—23 chromosomes from each. When you take an AncestryDNA® test we look at the full set of chromosomes. But figuring out which DNA came from one parent and which from the other is a tricky problem.
SideView™ technology to the rescue.
Ancestry® has pioneered a new technology—SideView™—that does this job using DNA matches, the identical DNA you share with relatives.
We can do this so well because we have the largest consumer DNA database in the world. The bigger the database, the more matches there are and the better the results.
So how does SideView™ work?
All of your matches share one or more segments of identical DNA with you and at least one of your parents. We use your DNA matches to split your DNA into the halves that came from each parent.
First, we find the segments that connect only to one parent or the other. Then, we separate out the DNA you got from each parent by piecing together the segments that overlap.
After we’ve separated your DNA into the parts that correspond with each parent, we calculate an ethnicity estimate on the two halves.
From this, we can show your “ethnicity inheritance” — the ethnicity percentages passed down to you from each parent.
Since we see only half of your parents’ ethnicities, this is not an ethnicity estimate for your parents.
If your parents take DNA tests, they’ll receive their full ethnicity estimates. That could give you a peek into the ethnicities of your grandparents, too.
