FOR years, kiltmakers have sold tartan to tourists with uncertain Scottish connections after making questionable decisions about the clan to which they belong.

But now scientists are mapping the genetic profiles of the different Scottish clans to allow those trying to trace their ancestry to discover whether their heart is Highland or actually belongs to Paisley.

A new company, called Crucial Genetics, which was set up by scientists from Glasgow University, has started building up a database of clan genes and is working with several clan societies.

The firm has already had inquiries from the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and the UK from people wanting to know more about their Scottish roots.

Dr John Gow, a senior lecturer in clinical neuroscience at the university, who is managing the laboratory at the Southern General Hospital, said: “What we’re doing just now is building up a database of Celtic surnames, both Scottish and Irish, which has never been done before.

“We have all got different versions of human genes and it depends on the frequency of individual versions. You can look for markers that are specific to various clans.

“The clans themselves have large databases of families. Our idea is to go out and test all these families and see how genetically similar they are.

“In theory, you can show whether Mr Campbell living in New York is a genuine member of Clan Campbell, and there are quite a few people abroad who are trying to trace their Celtic ancestry.”

By studying the male Y-chromosome, scientists can determine whether they are related to a particular group through the male line once the group’s common genetic profile has been established. Mitochondrial DNA can also be used to trace ancestry through the female line.

So far, 800 people have agreed to go on the database. Samples are kept for research purposes on an anonymous basis.

Dr Gow said he and other scientists were also keen to establish what links existed between the different Celtic groups.

“The Welsh may be similar [to the Scots], same as the Cornish and people in Brittany. It is fascinating stuff,” he said.

Crucial Genetics was set up after Glasgow University scientists received increasing requests from groups such as the police, immigration, lawyers, the Child Support Agency, insurance companies, doctors and the public in general to carry out DNA tests.

They compare 16 genes – compared to ten used by police scientists – and if these match it means there is only a one-in-a-billion chance that the two people involved in the test are not related. This has been used to reunite orphans with their siblings.

Paternity cases can also be resolved using the test to establish if a man is the biological father of a child. The tests cost about £400 although those carried out as part of legal proceedings cost about £470.

Maggie Macdonald, the archivist of the Museum of the Isles, at Armadale, on Skye, reacted cautiously to the use of DNA and genetics in establishing someone’s origins. “I’m sure it will throw up some interesting things,” she said.

However, Ms Macdonald said clans were not made up solely of people who shared an ancestor as over time other family groups had become members.

“There are quite a lot of historical instances where we know people have changed their name to MacDonald for protection,” she said.

“During the Lordship [of the Isles] period in medieval times, people perhaps not quite joined the clan but would have taken the name.

“It [genetic and DNA testing] all seems to have a little bit of a margin for error. It doesn’t seem totally exact but maybe it is, I don’t know.”

Duncan Chisholm, the chairman of the Kiltmakers Association, described it as a welcome move. He said: “There is certainly a world interest in tracing back family roots and tartans and this will help build interest.

“We get quite a number of North Americans trying to trace their family tartan and clans and very often with one of the smaller clans it is not so bad. But the problem arises where you have the bigger clans like the McDonalds and Campbells where there are so many different branches of the clan, I would say 80 or 90 per cent of them don’t really know which branch of that clan they belong to.”