ShareThisSACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Yolanda Griffith and Mikki Moore were daydreaming globally and swabbing locally.
The two professional basketball players agreed to give up a few cells to discover something about their genetic heritage. In doing so, they joined a growing movement to use DNA to map family roots to Africa, relying on an emerging science to reattach branches of family trees that were severed by the slave trade for many Americans.
Moore, who plays for the Sacramento Kings, and Griffith, of the WNBA Sacramento Monarchs, brushed the insides of their cheeks for 60 seconds and placed their samples into plastic vials to be sent for analysis in the labs of Family Tree DNA in Houston.
"I may own a big portion of Africa, you never know," Moore said.
"It will be fun to see if I have royalty," Griffith said.
"We may end up with our 40 acres and a mule," Moore said.
The testing of maternal-line DNA was offered in advance of "African American Lives 2," a four-part series looking at the histories of prominent African Americans, including Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman, Tina Turner, Chris Rock and Don Cheadle. The series, which premiered Feb. 6 and is hosted by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a follow-up to the 2006 television series "African American Lives" and the "Oprah's Roots" program of last year.
Despite Moore and Griffith's hopes, their DNA analyses didn't turn up any crowns, livestock or deeds to property. The testing results, which came in a few days ago, were a lot less specific than that, though intriguing.
The tests that Moore and Griffith had are available for $189 apiece through African DNA (www.africandna.com). Research typically follows a paper trail back to about 1870, when former slaves' full names began to be recorded by the U.S. Census. Further back, the paper trail generally grows cold, and that's where DNA testing can pick up the heritage trail.
Griffith's maternal DNA line reaches back to upper Guinea or Cameroon and probably to the Fulbe or the Fulani tribes, according to Bennett Greenspan, president of Family Tree DNA. The testing firm is a partner in African DNA.
Moore's DNA on his mother's side reaches back to upper Guinea, but did not conclusively point to any one of several tribes from that area, according to Greenspan.
The results included names and e-mail addresses for those willing to be contacted who had some level of genetic match. There were 133 such matches for Griffith. There were just two for Moore.
Moore could have additional analysis, tracking his paternal line based on the Y-chromosome, to uncover more clues to his roots. Women can only do a maternal line analysis.
Although the information is sparse, it can be a starting point for discovering more.
"We're talking about a tiny smidgen of who you are," says Greenspan of Family Tree. "These are threads and shreds of evidence. But in comparison to knowing nothing, it's actually quite a lot."
What the DNA testing can reveal is limited, in part, by the size of the databases used. Family Tree's maternal-line database has more than 60,000 samples. As more people are tested, the database and its usefulness will grow.
Last fall, Science Magazine and Genetics & Environmental Health Week published articles criticizing those marketing genetic ancestry DNA testing for obscuring its limitations, citing the 500,000 people who had paid anywhere from $100 to $900 for these services from more than 20 companies in the market. The debate continues about how complete a picture of heritage such testing can provide.
For the African DNA enterprise, Gates enlisted historians and anthropologists to evaluate results to come up with the most likely analysis.
Despite its limitations, DNA testing does illuminate aspects of race and identity. First, it makes clear that human beings have mixed their DNA across every physical border and cultural boundary.
On Gates' program, Chris Rock learns he's about 20 percent European. Tina Turner finds out she's about a third European.
It is generally easier to research European forebears than African ones for many Americans. Names, documents and other artifacts of heritage were stripped from the 10 to 12 million Africans who were brought to the Americas as slaves between the 15th and 19th centuries. DNA testing allows their descendants -- whose known family history may begin in shackles -- to start to piece together a history in freedom on another continent.
Reach Alison apRoberts at aaproberts(at)sacbee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
