MyHeritage DNA Test for Genealogy

MyHeritage has launched MyHeritage DNA, a home testing kit for consumer genealogy testing. The kit consists of a cheek swab that is mailed to MyHeritage's lab for analysis. The user is then invited to view the results on the company's website.

In its initial version, the test provides two main features: detailed ethnicity reports that map the user's ethnic and geographic origins, and DNA matches for finding relatives. Additional features and capabilities are planned for the future. The initial reports currently include 25 ethnicities, but this will improve following MyHeritage's Founder Population project. In this project, the company picked more than 5,000 participants from its 85 million members, by virtue of their family trees exemplifying consistent ancestry from the same region or ethnicity for many generations. In the next few months, the project will yield a rich DNA data set of more than 100 ethnicities that will enable MyHeritage to show users their ancestral roots with far greater resolution than other services, the company said.