DNA Solutions is aDNA testing company[1] created by biotechnologistVern Muir B.Sc. in 1996, and incorporated in 1998. The company created a home paternity kit in 1997 and has since expanded its services to include DNA sample storage.
DNA Solutions created the 'homepaternity kit' in 1997, which was a new concept where people for the first time could take samples forDNA testing at home, instead of in the laboratory. Originally the kits worked by people taking ahair sample, and posting into the laboratory for testing. The kit was first reported in the Australian newspaperThe Herald in 1998.
These home testing kits have since revolutionized DNA testing,[citation needed] and the industry has subsequently adopted DNA Solutions' terminology of using "home kit" and "home paternity kit" a term now used by virtually all DNA testing companies and laboratories for the "use at home" DNA testing services.
This new type of DNA testing led to a great deal of controversy, especially in the year 2000, when the Vice President of theAustralian Medical Association issued a press releasing calling for a ban of DNA Solutions's services due to issues of privacy and consent.[2] News of the new tests, and their availability online spread worldwide[3][4]
Over the next decade while DNA testing kits were being adopted by most DNA laboratories, DNA Solutions spread its services to such countries asRussia,France andChina.[5][6][7]
In 2007, DNA Solutions profiled 800 elephant dung samples from the jungles ofCambodia in order to calculate the number of wildelephants remaining in the wild.[8]
In 2008, DNA Solutions won the tender to store DNA samples for theAustralian military and at the same time launched a service to store DNA samples for the public.[9]
DNA Solutions offers the analysis ofY-DNA for identification geographic andethnic origin[10] of paternal lineage. The use of Y-DNA testing is useful for discerning biological relationships between people with the alleged same paternal lineage (i.e. Uncle-nephew, or grandfather-grandson DNA testing).
DNA Solutions offers the analysis ofmitochondrial DNA (mtDNA); whilst only inherited maternally, mtDNA is found in both men and women. DNA Solutions sequences both theHVR1 and HVR2 regions for maternal ancestral and ethnic analysis. Mt-DNA testing is also used for proving biological relationships (i.e. cousins, granddaughter-grandmother, etc.)
DNA Solutions offers analysis ofautosomal DNA STRs used for DNA profiling, paternity testing and other biological relationship tests, such as sibling tests.