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In a move they believe will forever alter the way family history research is done, local geneticists are opening a free DNA-based genealogy database to the public this week.

The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation is expected to announce on Monday that it has established a Web site -- www.smgf.org -- that allows anyone who has had a simple DNA test to input information that may link them to their ancestors, both known and unknown.

Scott Woodward, chief scientific officer for the foundation established by Utah billionaire James Sorenson, said the database is the beginning of a project his organization will continue to expand in size and scope over time. The Web site is designed to build one- sided pedigree charts -- or family trees -- for those looking for their paternal ancestors through genetic testing. To use the database, participants must undergo an inexpensive mouth swab test done by a genetic testing company.

Once that procedure is complete, researchers process the saliva sample through a laboratory and come up with coding sequences that define specific genetic markers people carry through their Y- chromosome DNA -- their father's bloodline. Those markers can then be entered into the Web site database, which searches for links with others whose genetic information matches their own.

Additional information:Web sites:

Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation

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To date, the foundation has catalogued information about the DNA of more than 5,500 participants and plans to add as much new information to the database every three months as it is able to collect.

Though the scope of the data currently available is limited mostly to those with West European ancestry -- because the vast majority of data already collected has come from Americans of European descent -- the database offers the potential of virtually unlimited expansion into family lines from every ethnicity on Earth.

As additional people are tested and offer their genetic information -- and their family history records -- to the foundation, the larger the database will grow, Woodward said.

While it doesn't circumvent the need for accurate family history data -- names, birthdates, marriage and death dates, place of birth and other vital statistics -- it supplements such information by providing what many consider to be definitive proof of familial relationships: a genetic "match" meaning people are related "with a high degree of probability," Woodward said. That probability is in the "high 90 percentile."

Available family history data was gathered from all those whose genetic information is stored in the database and will be requested from those who want to be a part of the database in the future.

The DNA tests are especially accurate for ancestors up to eight generations back, he said, noting that technology makes it possible to go back "even 50 or 60 generations" but cautions that genetic markers become less reliable the further back they are traced because DNA undergoes slight alterations over time.

Many people seeking to uncover their ancestry run into numerous roadblocks in their search, including faulty information about family lines and surnames that have been changed over time. Genetic testing offers a way to bypass such roadblocks -- if the information about ones' ancestors is a part of the Sorenson database, or others that exist in a variety of laboratories in the United States and England.

The difference at this point is the Sorenson Foundation is offering access to such information not only on the Internet but free of charge to users. By providing the information and encouraging people to not only use it but to add to it, Woodward said his organization hopes to map the world's entire human family tree through genetics at some point in the future.

Woodward, who started his work several years ago at Brigham Young University and is considered one of the world's leading researchers in his field, is now working for Sorenson, the medical devices pioneer who was recently recognized as the state's wealthiest man.

Sorenson told the Deseret Morning News he is dedicated to expanding the project indefinitely in the quest to help people the world over understand "how similar we are, rather than how we're different. . . . We need other people and they need us."

Sorenson said he established the foundation as a nonprofit organization "to move this work along globally" rather than having it confined to one university or research organization.

"We want to prove the science and let that carry us to the next level of human kindness and dignity," Sorenson said. He said he truly believes that as people come to understand their similarities, even in genetic makeup, they will be more inclined to "brotherhood, peace on Earth and love for all our fellow men. We're all connected in so many ways, and we don't even realize it."

Woodward said the information provided through the database protects the identity of people currently living. If someone finds matching genetic markers and retrieves a paternal pedigree chart through the database, only people who lived prior to 1900 will show up on the chart. There are many reasons for that, he said, including the possibility that people who believe they are children or grandchildren of specific people will find their parentage lies elsewhere.

Sorenson isn't particularly concerned with such revelations, he said, believing truth will ultimately come out and that understanding the truth better serves those who are seeking to definitively establish their ancestral lines. He sees his work as an extension of science but acknowledges there is an additional motivation because of his faith.

For Christians -- and particularly members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- who are familiar with the biblical reference in Malachi to "turn the heart of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers," the technology provides a stunning example of how literally that process can now happen. The LDS Church is considered the world's leading organization for family history research, and Sorenson admits it is no small coincidence that his research is being conducted within blocks of the church's world headquarters.

Sorenson himself is a Latter-day Saint, as are Woodward and many others employed by the foundation. "It's a 'turning the hearts'-type process, and a lot of people working here are working on the basis that they feel something more than just a test-tube study."

But science is at the forefront, he maintains.

"Genomics is the big deal" in the future of family history research, he said. "It's huge. We're fortunate to have some platform work done by the Mormon Church, but if we were trying to make this simply an LDS phenomenon, we would lose the rest of the world."

E-mail: carrie@desnews.com