2024: T … A to Z of DNA and Me: Traits… Oddly Traits Inherited from Parents

This is my 9th year of writing in the annual April A to Z… and I changed my topic a few times until settling on DNA. I’m also writing again in my 3rd year of 52 Weeks 52 Ancestors this year… so April is going to be quite tricky for me… two designated posts a week the month. In as I was going to write a few DNA posts on the 52 weeks challenge, but then decided I could spread out my writing to keep all the DNA information in one grouping on the April A to Z. I hope you find it interesting how the DNA is tested for unusual topics like bitter sensitivity or hangryness… it’s been interesting to see if I feel Ancestry has hit the mark… or missed it. If you’ve never heard of the annual A to Z, then head over HERE for more info. It’s quite interesting to write on a specific topic for the month… meeting and making new friends as they visit… and visiting their blogs. It’s always a fun learning curve.

Traits Inheritance by Parents… A few traits of which weren’t covered in their own category…

DNA Influenced through Traits… Our parents are our best “influencers.”

I tested my DNA in 2016 when first released on Ancestry… always a sucker for new technology… wanting to try right away. Hate to admit though… but I did hate spitting in that test tube… gross… but I pursued on… quickly mailing out. While I had always been told I/We were Irish, I thought this would give me more of a definite answer… and through the years it has kept changing from its original… to now more Scottish than Irish.

Traits were not listed in the beginning… have shown new over the past few years. While I find them interesting… not all of mine, my husband or my children are accurate. Now why is that… but they have been fun to look at and ponder their accuracy… and I have so enjoyed writing on them in this A to Z April Challenge this year.

My DNA results on Ancestry have changed often over the years… very different from the first ancestry circles of which I wrote over HERE. I remember when the circles first appeared… and how everyone, including me, was upset that they had no circles, while others had several. I was super excited when my circles of ancestors began appearing, and soon I had over 30 circles before finally ending; now they are called thru-lines.

My percentages have now gone down from 35% Ireland to now 7%… how did this happen? In as there was no specific Scotland listed in their first charts… I might assume that the area of Scotland was mixed in with the area of Ireland. They annually update their testing, so will I see changes again next year? I’m glad I began writing posts on my DNA and documented the graphs, as I’d have no access to way back when… when they first began. My DNA posts can be accessed over HERE.

DNA is the “instruction manual” for all living things… separated into long, tightly wound pieces… known as chromosomes, which are typically grouped into 23 pairs. Within these chromosomes are our genes… of which holds the instructions for each gene. We have two copies of each gene within ourselves… one inherited from each parent. If only I’d been more interested in biology in school. Maybe if they had presented it in a different way… having us create family charts to see our lines… I might have… as Mama always said I continually asked… “where is our family from?“

Specific places in your DNA are known as markers, and these markers are associated with specific traits… which determines how someone ends up with red hair. At a certain marker, your genotype (a combination of two letters, like AA) is what helps in determining whether you will have red hair or not. I guess my daughter and two granddaughters both have that specific marker and genotype of AA.

We all inherit half of our DNA from one parent and half from the other. That’s why traits tend to run in families… like my daughter’s red hair… and her two daughters with red hair. I was surprised when she was born as my husband and I both have dark hair, but the red hair does run in our families. In as you receive half of your DNA from each parent… who in turn, received half from theirs… and so on. But our particular mix of DNA we inherit ourselves… is unique only to us. What specific in your family have you noticed?

Both parents pass down DNA for each trait to you, but some DNA has more influence than others… it can even tell you which parent it came from. In going through the “traits” analyzed on Ancestry of my DNA… let’s see how true it to be.

Your physical and behavioral traits are often influenced by your DNA… usually hundreds or thousands of different DNA markers acting in combination… but often one parent influences more than the other. More people have told me I looked more like a Bryan than a McKinley… bet that infuriated my mother… but it’s the luck of the draw in what influential markers come from each parent.

Even though I may look more like my Bryan family… I inherited also from my mother’s side… frugal in saving, craft genes, and personality. I’m sure daddy was happy I didn’t take after him in his gambling habits, fishing and drinking. Breakfast never began without a cigarette and a beer… but that’s also a Southern habit of many men. Give me a beer, and it takes me all evening to finish it! I’ve just never been a connoisseur of alcohol. Hubby did his share of drinking as a teenager and in the service, but after we met, I never saw him over-indulge. After marrying, I did have a couple of over-indulging moments with wine, but today I probably only have a couple drinks during the year.

Can you pinpoint who some of your traits are from? Good or Bad!

Sprinting trait… well I thought this interesting, but definitely not influenced by my paternal side… Daddy was more the napper and sleeper… I don’t think I ever saw him run. Mama on the other side, she often told stories of how she outran all the boys in school… which might not have been a good thing! Mama’s DNA showed that she was more the sprinter… which shows I am also likely a sprinter… but that is definitely not true! I’m sure as a young girl, I ran… I ran to “kick the can” on Friday nights, but don’t remember how fast I really ran.

Throughout all my life, Mama teased me that she could always beat me in a race… although I never took her up on it. When we lived on Smoak Ave. in Perry, the neighborhood boys liked to tease her about how they could beat her in a race… and one day she took them up on it… and beat them! They kept quiet after that… as an older woman beat them! Knowing Mama, she probably took us all out to the Dairy Queen to soothe their ruffled feelings!

In looking at my children’s DNA on this odd trait… my daughter’s DNA suggests that she’s more of a sprinter than an endurance runner… my son shows the same. Maybe I should challenge them to a run-off the next time they are together! Neither of them participated in any running of any type other than the usual running as a child. My granddaughter McKinley just began cross-country running for the first time… maybe she has inherited running from her father who also ran cross-country… and possibly there is some of my mother’s genes in her to support her name of McKinley. (Mama’s surname)

Predicting traits with PRS trait models

Most of our traits are determined by hundreds and thousands of different DNA markers, with each having a small effect in our makeup. A trait like height, for instance, is determined by tens of thousands of DNA markers. Each marker in your DNA makeup, you inherit two versions… one from each parent. These are called alleles… and can be the same or different… giving us similar or opposite effects in our makeup. In looking at ourselves, we often will see resemblances to one parent or the other in various ways… either physically in looks or the manner in which we speak.

Do you resemble one parent more than the other?

Another odd DNA inheritance is Sun Sneezing… whoever thought this was a thing… much less a trait!

My DNA suggests I’m more as “less likely” to be bothered with this odd sun sneezing trait… so I’m a non-sneezer when being out in the sun… so in as I don’t have my father’s DNA… was he a sneezer… but nothing I’ve heard mentioned.

Neither of my children’s DNA show as sneezers either, as well as their father… which I’m surprised at, as he can be a sneezer at times… so I guess I can chalk his sneezing up to allergies. Too bad, there was no DNA allergy testing on Ancestry; I’d be interested in that as well. I don’t really have any allergies today… but my mother tested me as a young child having asthmas, and the results came back as I was pretty much allergic to everything… including dust and chocolate! Who’s allergic to chocolate? I can understand dust, but not chocolate… and I say Bah Humbug to that! Chocolate has never affected me in any way… other than weight gain, but I will say that sometimes dust might make me sneeze if it’s really flying around. Good excuse reason to make others dust for me! Hmmm, I’ll have to remember that.

This photic sneeze reflex… as what scientist call sun sneezing… usually happens when moving from a dim-lit space to the outside bright sun. It’s said that whoever has this trait, usually sneezes only two or three times…. and known by the silly name of “Achoo Syndrome”… which definitely seems to fit the trait. Hubby has his share of sneezing fits, but when his happens, it’s achoo, after achoo… on and on… till he’s left exhausted. Odd, how the simple fit of sneezing can absolutely leave you depleted…. but it does.

It was the Greek philosopher, Aristotle (350 BC) who discovered this oddly sun sneezing trait and wrote of it in his Book of Problems… theorizing how it was the sun, from the heat of the day… causing a tickle in the nose… which leads to sneezing. I do remember saying, at times, that my sneeze was caused by a tickle in my nose… but never remember being specifically out in the sun.

Thanks for stopping by… and I hope I haven’t given you a tickle… making you sneeze while reading.

Jeanne

Are you a sneezer? It’s no fun in continuous “achoo” sneezing.

To read more 2024: A to Z of DNA and more, click HERE.

© 2024, copyright Jeanne Bryan Insalaco; all rights reserved

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Previous Years A to Z April Challenges…

2016: A to Z Southern Foods and Memories… they said write what you know… and being a girl born in the South… well this was what I knew.
2017: A to Z Conversations with Mama… it was a somewhat easy one for me to write as I’d journaled our conversations for years… I researched favorite topics to write.
2018: A to Z All About Nancy Drew… this one has been my favorite topic so far, and I don’t know if I’ll ever come up with another one to equal it
2019: A to Z Italian Famiglia Foods and Memories… I felt it was time to finally write the favorites of my husbands family foods.
2020: A to Z Family Stories… writing the stories of my husband’s family.
2021: A to Z of Mama in Photos... blogging on my mother through photos and memories      2022: A to Z Time Travels… Time Traveling through my blog… and more.          2023: A to Z The Best of our Journals… blogging on journals of hubby and I.