It's all in the DNA: as DNA testing becomes more available, some people are checking into their ancestry and asking, What's in it for me?

Alan Moldawer's adopted twin boys had always thought of themselves as white. But when it came time for them to apply to college last year, Moldawer thought it might be worth investigating the origins of their slightly tan skin. He used a new DNA kit that he heard could determine a person's genetic ancestry.

The results, designating the boys 9 percent Native American and 11 percent northern African, arrived too late for the admissions process, but their dad hoped they would be useful in obtaining financial aid. "Naturally, when you're applying to college, you're looking at how your genetic status might help you," says Moldawer, a business executive in Silver Spring, Md.

Genetic tests, once obscure tools for scientists, have begun to influence everyday lives. The tests, which do have a margin of error, are reshaping people's sense of themselves--where they came from, why they behave as they do, what disease might be coming their way. It may be only natural then that ethnic ancestry tests, one of the first commercial products to emerge from the genetic revolution, are prompting many to ask, What's in it for me?

It seems unlikely that colleges, governments, and other institutions will embrace the tests. But that hasn't stopped many test takers from adopting new DNA-based ethnicities--and a sense of entitlement to the privileges typically reserved for them. Some people with white skin are using the tests to apply to colleges or for jobs as minority candidates, while some with black skin are citing their European ancestry in claiming inheritance rights. And Americans of every shade are staking a DNA claim to Indian scholarships, health services, and casino money.

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS

"This is not just somebody's desire to go find out whether their grandfather is Polish," says New York University sociologist Troy Duster. "It's about access to money and power."

Some critics fear that the tests could undermine programs meant to compensate those legitimately disadvantaged because of their race. Others say they highlight an underlying problem with labeling people by race in an increasingly multiracial society.

"If someone appears to be white and then finds out they are not, they haven't experienced the kinds of things that affirmative action is supposed to remedy," says Lester Monts, a vice provost at the University of Michigan. Still, Michigan, like most other universities, relies on how students choose to describe themselves on admissions applications when assigning racial preferences.

Ashley Klett's younger sister marked the "Asian" box on her college applications this year, after Ashley, 20, took a DNA test that said she was 2 percent East Asian and 98 percent European. Whether it mattered they don't know, but Ashley's sister did get into the college of her choice. "And they gave her a scholarship," Ashley says.

Pearl Duncan has grander ambitions: She wants a castle. A descendant of Jamaican slaves, Duncan had already identified the Scottish slave owner who was her mother's great-great-grandfather through archival records. But the DNA test confirming her 10 percent British Isles ancestry gave her the nerve to contact the Scottish cousins who had built an oil company with the slave owner's fortune.

"It's one thing to feel satisfied to know something about your heritage, it's another to claim it," she says. The family's 11 castles, Duncan noted, were obtained with the proceeds of her African ancestors' labor. Perhaps they could spare one for her great-great-great-grandfather's black heirs? So far, no one has taken her up on the idea.

'MY DNA SAYS ...'

As the assets of some Native American tribes swelled in the wake of the 1988 federal law allowing them to build casinos, there was no shortage of petitioners asserting their right to citizenship and a share of the wealth. Now, many wield genetic ancestry tests to bolster their claim.

Marilyn Vann, a descendent of black slaves owned by Indians, is using her DNA results to sue the Cherokees for tribal citizenship. (Several tribes that freed their slaves and made them tribal members in the mid-1800s have tried to exclude descendants of the former slaves.)

"It used to be, 'Someone said my grandmother was an Indian,'" says Joyce Walker, the clerk who regularly turns away DNA petitioners for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, which operates the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. "Now it's, 'My DNA says my grandmother was an Indian.'"

Recognizing the validity of DNA ancestry tests, some Indians say, would undermine tribal sovereignty. They say membership often requires documenting blood ties to a specific tribal member, something DNA tests cannot do.

Shonda Brinson, an African-American college student, is still trying to figure out how best to apply her DNA results on employment forms. In some cases, she has chosen to write in her actual statistics--89 percent sub-Saharan African, 6 percent European, and 5 percent East Asian. But she figures her best bet may be just checking all relevant boxes.

"That way," says Brinson, "of the three categories they won't be able to determine which percentage is bigger."

What Genetics Tests Can Do

CONFIRM IDENTITY

* Identify a body after an accident

* Determine whether you were at a crime scene

* Determine paternity 

HELP PREDICT A MEDICAL CONDITION

* Diagnose a genetic disorder like Huntington's disease 

* Suggest which drugs might be most effective for you

* Assess your risk with a mate of passing a genetic disease to a child

EXPAND A FAMILY TREE

* Help find unknown parents, siblings, or other relatives

* Identify where your ancestors came from

Amy Harmon covers genetics and society for The New York Times.

What their DNA says, and how they're trying to use it ...

PEARL DUNCAN

83%   West African

10%   BritiSh Isles

7%    Middle-Eastern/
      North African

MATTHEW MOLDAWER

80%   European

11%   North African

9%    Native American

MARILYN VANN

58%   West African

39%   European

3%    Native American

BACKGROUND

Modern DNA history began in 1951 when British scientists James Watson and Francis Crick built the first model of DNA, the protein that contains genetic instructions for all forms of life. Today the ability to decode a person's DNA with a simple test is having far-reaching effects in science, the law, and society.

BEFORE READING

* Ask for a show of hands. How many students would want to take a DNA test to explore their racial makeup? How would they feel if they discovered ancestry they were unaware of?

WRITING PROMPT/DEBATE

* Students can write pro or con essays on the ethics of claiming a minority racial ancestry to obtain a scholarship.

CRITICAL THINKING

* Review the case of Pearl Duncan and the Scottish castle. Are the descendants of slaves owed something from the profits generated by the Labor of their ancestors? (There has been public policy-debate about granting restitution to the descendants of U.S. slaves, but there is Little consensus on the issue.)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* Should anyone with Native American DNA be able to claim tribal membership?

* Explain why you would--or would not--want to take a DNA test to identify a possible genetic disorder.

[right arrow] The only people in the world who have identical DNA are identical, twins.

[right arrow] The cost of DNA tests vary, but can be as high as $200. However, the cost may double if the test results are to be certified as legally binding by a court.

WEB WATCH

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/units/basics/

The University of Utah presents a basic introduction to DNA. Among the questions addressed by the Web site: What is DNA? What are genes? What is heredity?

1. A DNA test could reveal art of the following information except

a which drugs might benefit a person.

b where one's ancestors originated.

c where one was born.

d a child's paternity.

2. Some critics fear that ethnic identity tests could

a produce a resurgence of racism in America.

b undermine programs designed to compensate those who have been disadvantaged because of their race.

c raise the cost of social-aid programs.

d trigger a new wave of immigration.

3. Why are some people trying to prove Native American heritage in their backgrounds?

4. Some American Indians question the use of DNA to prove Indian heritage because

a DNA cannot establish ties to a specific tribal. member, something that is often required to be recognized as a member of a tribe.

b Indian courts do not recognize DNA testing when considering applications for membership in a tribe.

c American Indians' genes are too similar to Asian genes to tell them apart.

d treaties between the U.S. government and Indian tribes do not allow for the admission of new members to tribes.

5. Pearl Duncan's rationale for her request for a castle is that she is

a claiming the property of one's ancestors.

b expropriating the possessions of foreigners.

c seeking the return of her property that had long ago been stolen.

d claiming wealth that was produced by her ancestors.

IN-DEPTH QUESTIONS

1. Should colleges that take ethnicity into consideration when examining applications require that an applicant's ethnic heritage be a certain percentage of their total ethnic makeup to "count"? If so, what might that minimum level be?

2. Are there ways that unethical individuals, governments, and institutions could misuse ethnic ancestry tests?

ANSWER KEY

1. [c] where one was born.

2. [b] undermine programs designed to compensate those who have been disadvantaged because of their race.

3. to obtain a share of Indians' scholarships, health services, and casino money. (Similar wording is acceptable.)

4. [a] DNA cannot establish ties to a specific tribal member.

5. [d] claiming wealth that was produced by her ancestors.