After this Commercial Break: Ancestry Informative Markers

“All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.” — James Thurber

In 2006, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) released a television special entitled African American Lives. The piece featured African American celebrities who had submitted DNA testing in order to find their respective ancestral and geographical links to the world. The show, and its subsequent revival in 2008, allowed those like Whoopi Goldberg, Don Cheadle, Oprah Winfrey, Chris Rock, Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman, and Tina Turner to discover from whom and from where they came.

In its two parts, African American Lives garnered rather significant ratings and created an extensive fan base ("African American Lives 2 DVD”). In its two years, the special’s subjects and fans alike suddenly became infatuated with the idea of rediscovering the past. Especially important to this fervor was the socio-political context of actual African American lives. Discovering the genetic roots of an African American individual is especially complex not only because of the diasporic descent of African Americans, but also because finding the past can often times offer a solidification of an identity that was forcefully taken away from an entire family (Tawiah-Benjamin). In that sense, it is a political and empowering act of sorts.

Though searching the past is especially interesting and inherently political for African Americans, the quest to find one’s self genetically or historically is not restricted to race, nor is it restricted to just one television show. African American Lives, though arguably the most famous, is not the only one of its kind. Daytime televisions shows, special news reports, and even Hollywood blockbusters all seem to stem from the question of who are we, really? As American author James Thurber suggests, the need to learn about one’s own past is a natural human desire.

What Do We Really Learn?

With millions of people spending time and money to discover their personal and family histories, it would seem that the commonality of genetic testing would indicate the testing as being both advanced and reliable. This may not necessarily be the case. In a 2007 New York Times article, Henry Louis Gates Jr., the host of the famed African American Lives admitted that even he had begun to question the genetic tests used in ancestry explorations. After receiving different test results from two separate companies, in which one company confirmed genetics roots in Egypt while the other traced his primary ancestry to Europe, Gates explained, “ They told me what they thought I wanted to hear” (Nixon).

In historical, geographical, and political terms, Egyptian and European descents have very different implications for an African American man like Gates. However, it is important to look at the possible source of this error. The tests used by companies in African American Lives, or the more commonly available company, 23andMe, often employ the use of Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs). In order to use AIMs, a geneticist will study the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of human genomes. Individuals, in this section of their respective DNA, have different types of nucleotides. By comparing the areas in which an individual may have different nucleotides, a scientist can create an ancestral profile of that person. The profiles will show the correlation of DNA sampling between parents and offspring as well as the tested individual to individuals of entire geographical regions (Dupré, 49). For Gates to be considered as Egyptian, for example, means that he has specific nucleotides that have an origin in Egypt. This implies that he, too, has an origin in Egypt.

Even if one is not scientifically gifted enough to fully understand this process, it is still apparent that these studies prove only correlation, not necessarily causation. The ancestral results offered by AIMs seem to imply that, because Gates has DNA similar to individuals who may live in or may be related to someone who lived in Egypt, he must be Egyptian. This thought is especially flawed when one considered the concept of race. For genetic studies of AIMs, the concept of race is primarily identified through geographical ancestry. Sociologically and scientifically, it is apparent race is a much more complex construction.

With genetic testing, individuals can find their
ancestral composition down the percentage.

The Limitations of AIMs

AIMs, in a most simplistic view, can be seen as a correlation of DNA sets in comparison to geographical regions of the world. While this, on its own, can be seen as insignificant, some may argue that it provides only a starting point from which ancestry can be detected. True,  African American Lives, compiled both historical data and family stories before providing their analyses. However, even using AIMs as a base from which to further research histories can prove to be difficult. As will be further discussed, there are still many limitations to AIMs.

Race as a Gene:

From a sociological standpoint, discussing race as a gene is very problematic. Genes for race cannot exist because race is a social construct, not a biological identity (Dupré, 40). Even if the argument is removed from the confines of sociological analysis, the only way race could as a trait would be through the combination of incredibly complex genes. As suggested above, race is tied not only to skin color or geographical location, but also to hair texture, body type, facial figures, and a number of other factors. Whereas scientist Gregor Mendel could use the crossbreeding of pea plants to determine offspring, the study is not replicable on humans. Scientists could not, for example, pair two differently raced individuals in order to create a punnett square that could accurately predict the race of their offspring (Dupré, 41). In this way race, as it is currently understood, could not exist as a simple gene.

Even past the complexity of the overlapping tendency of immeasurable race “genes,” there also exists further complications to crediting race to genes. SNPs, the primary testing material in AIMs, are non-functional DNA, meaning they do not compose particular genes nor do they an affect on physical traits or differences in behavior (Dupré, 43; Aldeman).  Essentially, working with SNPs proves that there is a commonality of alleles within a very large human population; these SNPs are not genes (Aldeman).

What is more interesting is that these studies produce somewhat insignificant results. As documentary director Larry Aldemen explains, 95% of DNA variation between different DNA strands account for the differences between any two individuals on the same continent. The remaining 5% of the variation could differentiate individuals in order to indicate the continent from which the DNA strand's ancestors came (Aldeman). Even if the 5% could identify an individual’s ancestral continent, the study still found that, “No matter which clustering scheme [scientists] used, individuals could be placed in more than one group” (Aldeman). This inability to strictly classify humans into separate race and geographical groups is due to humans’ modern lifestyles, mainly, ones of migrations and interracial relationships.

USA Ancestry in 2000.
Data Provided by US Census Bureau

Interracial Relationships and Migration:

In looking at the effectiveness of AIMs predicting biological and ancestral markers, philosopher of science John Dupré cautions, “It should be stressed, though, that all of these SNPs will be found in many people who don’t identify as black since racial interbreeding will ensure that they are gradually spreading through the wider population” (Dupré 49). This is a warning expressed by many scientists in the field (Fausto-Sterling; Aldeman). As interracial relationships are becoming more common and more acceptable, the separate SNPs coding become intermixed, creating overlapping AIMs. This means a child born of an interracial couple will have SNPs codings from all over the world and the ancestry, therefore, will be harder to pinpoint.

Much like the concept of interracial coupling, migration has also proved to obscure the value of AIMs. As worldwide travel becomes more readily available, humans are displaced from the geographic regions in which their SNPs originate. As Aldeman succinctly explains, “Human populations just haven't been isolated from each other long enough to evolve into separate sub-species, or races” (Aldeman).

"Non-Traditional" Relationships and Environment:

Another complication to anticipate in genetic testing concerns the increased occurrence of “non-traditional” relationships. Non-traditional, in this way, is defined as a pejorative term regarding any relationship outside of the realm of one cis-gendered female and one cis-gendered male creating a child of their own. These “non-traditional” families consist of lesbian, gay, transgendered, or queer relationships, as well as relationships including adoptions, surrogacy, infidelity resulting in a child, or in vitro fertilization. When the confines of a biological family are altered, the importance of genetic testing is also challenged. How much influence, for example, does a mother have on her child versus that child’s biological mother? Genetic testing, at this point, does not allow for questions like this to be explored. Instead, genetic testing limits ancestral exploration solely to the roots of the egg and sperm of which an individual was born.
         

"Non-traditional" families and the importance of non-biological families leads directly into the power of one's environment. Famed feminist scientist Anne Fausto-Sterling consistently suggests that genes alone do not drive human’s actions, but, more accurately, genes in combination with an individual’s development, environment, and chance produce these actions (71). In the context of genetic testing, it is interesting to note that even if a racial gene did exist, there would still be the unexplored realm of environmental affects. As much as AIMs may tell a person about her/hir/his past, there does not currently exist a method to test the ways in which the environment may have had an influence on that individual.

Conclusion

For years, ancestry explorations have been the cause of much fascination. The premise that humans can uncover their entire history, and possibly predict events of the future, with just one cotton swab is overwhelmingly exciting. This construction is the type of real life situations television producers dream of, because it provides drama and excitement to which everyone with a mother can relate.

While genetic testing is a surefire way to get high television ratings, there is also the possibility that the demand-spawned industry may create a market before the science is necessarily ready (Nixon). Improper associations of race with genetic coding, migration, interracial relationships, non-traditional relationships, and environmental factors provide only a small glimpse of the limitations current genetic testing of AIMs face. Even with these limitations, genetic testing and ancestral exploration will likely continue to be a desire of both everyday people and movie producers.

In all the above analysis, there has been much discussion regarding the sociological view of race being a purely social construct, however, everyday perceptions are not as forgiving. As Aldeman accurately states, “Race may be a biological myth, a social construction, but it nonetheless remains very real” (Aldeman). These racial differences, as Aldeman argues, do not come from significant biological differences, but from racist institutions and practices. Social institutions blending into science often accounts for the confusion of race with genetics. The two seemingly separate categories conflate into a confusing construct- one that is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. So complex that it can no longer be properly dictated by science or society. As poet Lori Tsang astutely ascertains, “After all who really does [understand race]? The complex web of relationships among race, culture, and kin color remains just as elusive a reality as the relationships among sex, power, and love. Like water, it takes the shape of whatever contains it—whatever culture, social structure, political system. But like water, it slips through your fingers when you try to hold it” (210).

Works Cited

"African American Lives 2 DVD." ShopPBS.org. PBS. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=2966804>.

Aldeman, Larry. "Race and Gene Studies: What Differences Make a Difference?" PBS. PBS, 2003. Web. 02 April 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-01-02.htm>

Dupré, Jonathan, “What Genes Are and Why There Are No Genes for Race,” In Revisiting Race in a Genomic Era,” Barbara Koenig, Sandra Soo-Jin Lee and SarahRichardson eds., Rutgers Univ. Press 2008: 39-58.

Fausto Sterling, Anne. "Genes and Gender," in Myths of Gender. pp 61-89
Nixon, Ron. "DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots." New York Times. 25 Nov. 2007. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/25dna.html?pagewanted=all>.

Tawiah-benjamin, Kwesi. "Black Americans Are Using DNA To Trace Their African Roots." Modernghana.com. Modern Ghana, 18 Sept. 2009. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.modernghana.com/news/239440/1/black-americans-are-using-dna-to-trace-their-afric.html>.

Tsang, Lori. "Postcards from "Home"" Half and Half: Writers on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural. By Claudine C. O'Hearn. New York: Pantheon, 1998. 197-215. Print.

Posted by Tracy Gebhart