Sorenson proving humans all 'kin' via a DNA database

As Scott Woodward, Lars Mouritsen, James Sorenson and Ugo Perego discuss genetics, they don't look anything alike. It's clear they're not related and don't even have the same ethnic backgrounds.

Or is it? Sorenson believes they're more related than they think — that at some points in the past, parts of their DNA resided in the same regions of the world, perhaps even the same town, though no one's sure where that was or when.

Along with DNA from George Washington and Eva Peron and most everyone else.

It is that belief that drove Perego, manager of business operations for Sorenson Molecular Genealogical Foundation, to line villagers up in the Filomeno Mata area of Mexico recently when an unexpected opportunity came to collect their DNA samples.

The foundation is building the world's largest correlated genetic and genealogical database, its goal to help people with genealogical research, using documented genetic information. The Molecular Genealogy Research Project is a tool to help verify what you think you know about your lineage, said Woodward, chief scientific officer. And to help get through the roadblocks you may have encountered trying to put names on the branches of your family tree.

They had the villagers swish mouthwash, then spit it into little cups that are sealed. Back in Utah, when the work is outsourced to another Sorenson company, Sorenson Genomics, managed by Mouritsen, DNA is extracted from that sample and a genetic profile created. Besides providing the little cells from the inside of the mouth, the Mexican residents provided as much genealogical information as they could.

It's a process being repeated all over the world, though the Mexico trip was a little unusual. Perego was part of a trade mission, accompanying Utah Gov. Olene Walker. Over dinner, an elected official suggested they get samples from the mountainous Filomeno Mata area, where the people rarely move away or marry outsiders.

The opportunity had to be seized right then because that elected official had only five days left in office. It was a chance that might not come again, Perego said. So they scrambled to get the supplies they needed to do the sampling.

No genetic line is really pure, Woodward said. You have to say, "As of when?"

The concept of the database is that bits and pieces of all our ancestors are "walking around inside us," he said. So a Utahn whose grandparents were born in Ireland may know all their own genes are in Utah in 2004, but they were part of the gene pool in Ireland in 1870 since genetic makeup is passed down parent to child. By building a genetic profile of an area, the researchers believe they can help people determine where their genes have been, providing clues to aid genealogical research.

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