When you receive your DNA results back from a testing company, it can be confusing to try and interpret the data. However, with a little bit of knowledge, you can easily read and understand your own DNA sequencing results.
The first thing you need to do is find the key that will help you understand the abbreviations used in your results. This key will be specific to the company that did your DNA testing. Once you have this key, look at your results and find where it says sequencing results. This section will list all of the genetic markers that were tested and their corresponding allele values.
Next, take a look at the column labeled chromosome. This is telling you which chromosome each marker is located on. In general, autosomal chromosomes are denoted by numbers (1-22), while sex chromosomes are denoted by an X or a Y. If any of your markers are located on the X chromosome, this means that they may be passed down differently in males and females.
Finally, pay attention to the columns labeled genotype or haplotype. These columns will tell you what variants of each marker you have. For example, if a marker has two different alleles (A and G), then someone with an AA genotype would have two copies of the A allele, while someone with an AG genotype would have one copy of each allele. Knowing your genotypes can be helpful for things like predicting disease risk or finding out which ancestral populations you're related to.
Overall, reading DNA sequencing results is not difficult once you know what to look for. By taking some time to familiarize yourself with the terminology and format used by testing companies, you'll be able to easily understand your own results - and those of your family members too!