Each person’s DNA is unique. Sperm carries half of DNA, and eggs carry half, but the mother/father have billions of sperm cells and eggs. What do those sperm cells and eggs have in common? How do DNA test know my parents are indeed my parents? How similar is my DNA with my siblings?
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The only thing each each sperm or egg have in common with each other is that each will contain half of the DNA of the corresponding parent. The child that results from the union of any given sperm and egg will have half of its DNA from the father and half from the mother. A DNA test will identify certain locations on your DNA (called markers) and depending on how the markers match between you and the parent, will enable the geneticist to estimate a probability that a person is the parent. Your DNA could be the same as a sibling (in the case of identical twins) or much different. The probability of you receiving a completely different is so small (approx. 1 in 7×10^12 ) it is effectively zero. Siblings usually share about 50% of their overall DNA.
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