DNA results to be added to family tree Web sites

For less than $200 (150 EUR) and a cheek-swiped cotton swab, amateur historians will soon add DNA results to family tree Web sites.

Photo: DNA results to be added to family tree Web sites

The rapidly growing field of online genealogical searches is expanding to genetic testing, courtesy of a new partnership between the Internet's largest family history Web site, Ancestry.com, and Sorenson Genomics, a privately held DNA research firm.

Sorenson and Ancestry.com's Provo, Utah-based parent company, The Generations Network, will reveal details of their venture Monday.

Ancestry.com plans to launch the DNA testing product by the end of summer, offering customers the possibility of finding DNA matches in the site's 24,000 genealogical databases.

"DNA research becomes more meaningful to people searching for relatives as more people's DNA results become part of the database," said Doug Fogg, chief operating officer of Salt Lake City, Utah-based Sorenson Genomics, a division of Relative Genetics.