DNA plays dirty tricks on men’s paternal feelings

When men want to verify their paternity, they usually do it out of curiosity or uncertainty. Women never have to take on a similar initiative for physiological reasons. A mother always knows that she is a mother and this is her baby. However, women can raise the issues of men’s paternity too, although those are mostly business issues: to call a possible father to account and make him participate (financially) in the upbringing of a child.

Photo: DNA plays dirty tricks on men’s paternal feelings

The paternity examination requires the genetic material of the three – the child, the mother and the candidate for the role of the biological father. As a rule, specialists take blood and saliva samples.

James Watson and Francis Crick presented the world with a description of a very interesting object, known as the DNA – the dual spiral of the Deoxyribonucleic acid. The discovery contributed greatly to the development of criminal investigation techniques and proactive diagnostics of hereditary diseases. In addition, it makes it a lot easier to answer the question: “Whose kid is it?”

The DNA contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all living organisms. The human being normally has 23 pairs of the DNA. A child receives a half from its mother and another half from its father.

A paternity examination test involves the analysis of the child’s DNA. Specialists determine the fragments, which contain the genetic information. They at first find the chromosomes, which the child received from its mother and then compare the rest of the chromosomes with the genetic material of the supposed father. If they coincide, a man can be considered the biological father of a particular child (with a probability of 99.9 percent). A negative test result excludes a mistake: a man will be 100 percent certain that he is not the biological father of this particular baby.

It is possible to hold the paternity test both before and after the child’s birth. It can be quite risky to perform the test during pregnancy. Paternity tests have no age limits for the DNA remains unchanged throughout one’s life and even after death.

Legal aspects are very important at this point. If you decide to make the paternity test to satisfy your curiosity, it will only be enough to find a lab and pay their bill. If the test is required to solve a legal dispute at court, you will have to obtain the adequate court order for the expertise for it will have no legal force otherwise.

Medportal