Can You Trace Half Your Roots? Mitochondrial DNA | Finding Your Roots

In this clip from Finding Your Roots, journalist Maria Hinojosa and actor John Lithgow learn about their ancestry through DNA testing. To discover more about Maria Hinojosa’s roots, they analyzed her mitochondrial DNA. Through this analysis, they were able to find out that Maria had Native American ancestors. How can you trace genes on one side of your family?

This lesson was created by the National Science Teaching Association and adapted for Finding Your Roots with support from WETA.