Today there are many computational methods for tracing our ancestors. One can trace their own ancestry using different programs in the computer. Phylogenetics is a field of biological science which deals with the evolutionary relationship of different organisms.
In
the olden days, tracing our ancestors was relatively different. A parchment
would be maintained by the head of the family, and every new event, a birth,
death, marriage would be listed. This was considered necessary because even in
the olden ages, it was known that if a marriage took place between kinsmen up
to a particular generation would cause genetic or other defects either for the
couple or would be transmitted to the children of that couple. This led
researchers to discern that genetic behavior was known even in the olden days.
But how it was arrived at and what research helped them is something that has
got lost in the mists of time, or destroyed knowingly or unknowingly. It is
something for historians to find out, and anyway today who has the time for it?
Computers are one of the fastest electronic devices. So, it is very easy for everyone to access different kinds of bioinformatic programs. Along with databases in the open domain, researchers can easily find links at the most elemental levels known so far to science. These levels include the molecule, and even lower than that, the protein level. Bioinformatic computing can discover a protein's actions and reactions to other genetics and even create an artificial protein by simulation. Researchers may also subject a protein to various tests in a methodical, scientific way, and using fuzzy logic, arrive at conclusions which may match or differ from the actual specimen tests. This is the area known as Phylogentics.
One can use different kinds of programs for
viewing their evolutionary relationship. Phylogenetic analysis of many
organisms can be done by knowing each organism's DNA or protein sequence. It is very
important to do multiple sequence alignment for doing phylogenetic analysis.