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The bulk of DNA tests, including paternity DNA tests and ancestry tests are ‘at-home’ tests which means that DNA samples are collected  with a home testing kit. With these kits you collect your DNA samples in the ease and comfort of home and return them to the company for laboratory testing.

The kit will be sent out to you within a short time of having made your payment and you will receive the kit some days later depending on the country, type of post chosen and efficiency of the postal service.

What will I find in my Home Testing Kit?

DNA kits contain the following:

  • Sterile oral DNA mouth/buccal swabs for your saliva sample.
  • Submission forms
  • Instructions

The sterile swabs: These come in plain envelopes; each envelope usually contains four sterile swabs. The sterile mouth swabs look very much like cotton buds. The mouth swabs are simply rubbed in the mouth, under the tongue and cheeks for a given time and left to dry before placing them back in the coloured envelopes.

Mouth swabs collect saliva: Rubbing them in the mouth also removes cheek cells from within the mouth and thus, technically, it is the cells and not the saliva which contains DNA.

Submission forms: There is some basic paper work to be completed for your paternity DNA test. You will need to give some very basic information including name, surname, date of birth and a signature of all the people taking part in the test. If a child is taking part and is under the age of 16, a legal guardian can sign on behalf of the child.

Instructions: Instructions are well-explained in steps; the DNA sampling procedure is very simple and barely ever does one meet difficulties when doing their ‘at-home’ sampling for their DNA test.

Once you have finished your sample collection you can send the home testing kit back in the self-addressed testing kit provided. When returning DNA samples it is usually up to the client to pay the cost and select the type of mail he or she would like to use; they may wish to use courier or standard mail.

Some basic Guidelines to Efficient DNA Sample-Collection With Home Testing Kits

You will need to make sure to do (or not do) the following prior to collecting your samples:

  • Do not smoke
  • Do not drink hot drinks, such as tea or coffee or anything besides water for at least one hour before the test
  • Do not eat for at least one hour before the test
  • For children, the same rules apply.
  • For babies, their mouth should be rinsed with lukewarm water prior to swabbing and at least an hour gone by since the last feed.

Paternity DNA testing is simple and painless. Mouth swabs from your home DNA testing kit provide consistently high success rates if the basic advice for using a home testing kit is followed properly.

The DNA testing database

Genetic testing has become big. One can do several kinds of tests ranging from paternity DNA testing to relationships DNA testing to ancestry testing and many more. Our genetic information is unique, so unique that it can be an invaluable tool when identifying relatives, fathers, murder victims and criminals. Genetic testing has brought on advent of the DNA database – a large scale collection of a given population’s DNA profiles.

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