Who's Your Daddy

A recent report on the western bluebird stated: “Genetic studies showed that 45 per cent of nests had young that were not fathered by the defending male, and that 19 per cent of all the young were fathered outside the pair bond.”

Our feathered friends do not have access to an affordable, reliable way to identify paternal lineages on their own. Philadelphians, however, do. Over the counter DNA paternity tests are now available at Philadelphia Rite Aids for just $29.99, plus a $119 fee for lab work.

We can all recognize a picture of DNA, that iconic twisted ladder that seems to code for almost everything. The “code” is written with a four-letter alphabet of A, T, G, and C. Each letter represents a nitrogenous base—Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine respectively—which makes part of a rung on the genetic ladder.

To conduct the DNA test at home, Mom, Kid, and alleged Dad all swab their inner cheeks to get a sample of cells. The kit (oral samples and $119 included) is then sent to an Identigene laboratory, which holds accreditation with the American Association of Blood Banks. Within five business days the results come back to the family. The drawback is that 50% of daytime talk shows will become obsolete by 2012.

The technique for matching the father’s DNA to the child’s is known as short tandem repeats, or STR. The same method was used in pre-over-the-counter paternity testing. Certain sections of DNA have a sequence repeated several times (CCG-CCG-CCG-etc). The repeats are located in areas of the DNA strand that are outside of the gene, called the intron region, and their purpose is relatively mysterious to geneticists. These repetitive stretches are unique to different people. For example, if Juliet’s child has 24 repeats of CCG, and so does Romeo, that’s a good sign that he is the father. If, in addition, Li’l Romeo and Papa Romeo have more stretches in common—a series of 21 TAC’s in a row, another of 31 GTA’s, and so on—there is better evidence that they are father and son. Identigene checks multiple STRs to make sure they have a good match. In fact, they check in sixteen loci, compared with older tests that only look at thirteen. The Identigene kit is considered 99.99% accurate. The jury is out on whether it will hold up in a court of law, since there is no proof that the people who sent in the test are who they say they are.

In Letters to My Son, Kent Nerburn writes, “It is much easier to become a father than to be one.” Thanks to Identigene and a Rite Aid near you, it’s also easy to figure out if you are a father in the first place. Tests can be found in the Home Health aisle.

Image Credit: Flickr user terriem