Used to be that if an ordinary person had any reason to think about genetics, it was in connection with being told “You’ve got your grandmother’s eyes” or uncle’s over-fondness for strong drink. Now, it’s somewhat plausible for neighbors to get into a genetics discussion that includes mutation rates and comparison of haplotypes.

Most of us have seen TV programs or read news stories about DNA studies like the Human Genographic Project, a partnership of the National Geographic Society and IBM aimed at unearthing the history of human migration. By charting the genetic footprints etched into the cells of diverse populations around the world, this project will restore a great history that was lost to us, epics unrecorded by written language.

Less publicized but perhaps with even larger significance is a monumental study organized by a Utah-based non-profit, the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. By analyzing the DNA of thousands of volunteers from around the world, people who at a minimum know the identities of all eight great-grandparents, SMGF plans a publicly available database that eventually will permit anyone anywhere to determine how they are related to any other person. The mission of SMGF “is to promote a sense of connection, belonging and identity among all people by showing how closely we all are related as members of one human family.”

As explained on the SMGF Web site (www.smgf.org), “molecular genealogy links individuals to their ancestors using genetic profiles, eliminating guesswork and dead-ends caused by surname changes and missing historical records.”

Like all DNA studies directed at history and genealogy, the Sorenson project has nothing in common with other types of genetic research designed to understand disease or solve crimes. So far as anybody knows, the tiny pieces of DNA examined by the SMGF have no function or significance other than providing clues to ancestry.

Confidentiality is a closely guarded. While DNA results and the portion of their family trees older than 1900 will be added to the database, even SMGF volunteers aren’t given personally identifiable DNA test results. For that, it’s necessary to turn to one of several private companies offering increasingly sophisticated and affordable testing, the total results of which are your haplotype.

My distant cousin Ann Turner has co-authored “Trace Your Roots with DNA,” an enthusiastic and convincing introduction to personal genetic studies. She and Megan Smolenyak do a tremendous job explaining how it works, identifying what companies perform tests, and detailing the promise and limitations of current technology.

An interesting limitation of the two most commonly available DNA tests is that they reveal only a small percentage of our overall genetic make-up. The Y-DNA and mtDNA tests each trace a single thread of ancestry, in the first case the specifically male DNA that is handed down father to son, and in the case of mtDNA, only a snippet of DNA that mothers give to their children of either gender. Because of our cultural tradition of passing surnames along on the male side, Y-DNA tracks the origin of the long line of men – your father, his father, his father’s father and so on – who give us our last names. This is of considerable interest, but in terms of our total genes, Y-DNA and mtDNA together make up less than 1 percent of who we are.

More advanced tests are becoming available that may bring the lofty goals of the Human Genographic Project down to a personal level. Autosomal tests, which already are included in the Sorenson project’s broad analysis, examine a wider range of a person’s total DNA. By identifying genes that have undergone persistent (but usually harmless) mutations, it’s possible to estimate how much of any person’s ancestry originated in particular areas of the world. In one well-known case, a man who thought he was African-American found he was an estimated 57 percent Indo-European, 39 percent Native American, 4 percent East Asian and zero percent African.

DNA testing is a fascinating and affordable way to learn more about exactly who we are. Incredible advances have been made in less than a decade. Even more amazing things are sure to come, but why wait?

Matt Winters is editor of the Chinook Observer and lives with his family in Ilwaco.