The Power of DNA Testing

[NiceGuyIRL]

He was very attracted to his daughter but never showed it or considered acting on it. His daughter had fantasised about him for years and hid it from him as best she could. Her boyfriend got her an Ancestry DNA test as part of her 21st birthday present. When she got the results, she realised he couldn't be her real father and that her mother had cheated on him. So she sets about seducing her Dad, planning to tell him everything but only after they have had sex.

 

[SteelPoint]

Wouldn't you need TWO DNA tests... one from her and one from her father..? Like a lot of posts I see here, awkward, little details seem to be glossed over. Otherwise, reasonable as an idea but you don't explain how the "couldn't be her real father" theme fits into matters as a driving force.

 

[Carnevil9]

I suppose the test could show some bit of ancestry that she knows neither her mother or father have, indicating a third person must be one of her parents.

 

[ManitowocMike]

I suppose the test could show some bit of ancestry that she knows neither her mother or father have, indicating a third person must be one of her parents.

Would a DNA test say that her mom and dad were related... And wasn't mom living with her brother, Uncle Roy before and for a year ot two after mom and dad met... (This fixes the problem that even though father isn't biologically her father anymore, the story remains in I & T category for T -- which the readership hates. Ya' know: Ian quits the show, no problem, Debbie figures out that she's gay.)

 

[Rebooting]

In a world where few people understand the science, in which corporations seek profits at any cost, hire the least expensive workers, don't double check, proofread, or supervise, and overload their employees, one decides to get back at his boss by quietly changing which markers are compared. By choosing ones that are shared test results keep coming back indicating extremely high levels of incest and reproduction between relatives in communities the rogue employee chose to target.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

What you're talking about is a paternity test, not a DNA Ancestry test. For the paternity test you would need DNA from all three participants. Just yours would prove nothing.

 

[Rebooting]

My (admittedly limited) understanding is that results from these "send away DNA ancestry tests" are entered into a database with every previous test received. IIRC in RL some crimes were solved partially because an offenders close relative had been entered into the data base and investigators knew the perpetrator shared X percent of DNA (for instance making them a cousin or half-sibling of) with "Honest Joe" Citizen drastically limiting the number of viable suspects.

The company sends a letter saying what percentage of what ethinc group you are, and in general terms (like "Delaware") where your close relatives live-- based on their data base. It may be an opt-in / opt-out thing, but they name by name other relatives who have submitted samples. One way that could exclude "John Smith" from being "Mary Smith's" biological father would be if the whole "Miller Clan," owners of the local Miller Dairy-- which around the time Mary was conceived still home delivered-- was in the database. Her report comes back listing her biological father "Jim Miller" and his brother as paternal uncles, his sister as a Paternal Aunt, and his parents as her grandparents.

"Dad, you didn't tell me you were a Miller..."

This scenario might work even better if "dad" is the one "making the discovery" since he understands the implications of the test results and the role of different "players" far better than his "daughter."

Sample Plot:

Mary Smith shows John Smith her letter from "Ann C. Dentz, com" , and asks if he know he is "a Miller."
John gets the implication that Mary does not. Jim Miller was their "Milkman" years ago,
he confronts Susan Miller-- Mary's mom-- who confesses.
(Says she had lots of affairs years ago but quit when she got pregnant.)
John points out that its pretty shitty that she fooled around on him but has only ever had "laying still missionary in the dark with him."
Susan points out that she stopped living in "fantasyland" and has been a "good wife" for 18 years.
John points out the statute of limitations runs not from the time the crime is committed, but from the time it is discovered. He says things will have to change, that he deserves to have some of his fantasies come true too.
The agreement is that she "belongs" to him for the next year. She can't say "no" to anything he suggests unless it's a matter of her physical or psychological health. (And he's not stupid. He knows that if he wants to keep her, and possibly expand her horizons, he needs to make it somewhere between "not awful" and "lets do that again" for her.)

Up till now its not incest or even taboo. But...

Mary find's out what happened and feels guilty-- or even better for me-- Mary notices her mom is happier and asks why. Mom says she abandoned all of the "rules" her parents and church had taught... At first to not suffer the embarrassment of divorce, but then because it was great fun.

Mary decides to "abandon all of the rules and join in. (NOW it's firmly IT)

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Those send away DNA test don't/wouldn't do that as it would be impossible to narrow the DNA down to specific people in the database. Of the millions of test done matching two or three together wouldn't be possible yet. That's why the need a need a sample form two sources in order to match a DNA pattern.

The send away tests don't even look for the matching patterns their job it to tell you where you ancestors came from, not that who your mother and father might have been.

Sorry. But DNA has many different uses that which you see on TV or in movies is called electrophoresis which is quite specific in what it does and tell you. The DNA that Ancestry does is getting regional aspects of where you ancestors came from. Two completely different tests.