Since 2006, 23andMe has been selling $99 DNA testing kits — and gathering data volunteered by its customers. Now, with 162,000 samples in the United States alone, the company has mapped the country’s genetic history.

Of course, this is not exactly a scientific study. Right off the bat, it's biased because participants had to pay what may be cheap for a private DNA test, but in the end is a pretty significant amount of money for an average American. Affordability could have played a role in who chose to submit their DNA — mostly self-described white Americans (91 percent), while 8,663 Latinos and just 5,269 African Americans participated. According to the company, customers purchased the service out of curiosity, a desire to participate in a large-scale research project, or even a hope to connect with long-lost relatives. The findings were still scientific enough that they were published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Some of its findings were that 1 in 20 self-described African Americans carry Native American ancestry. It also reported that 3.5 percent of self-described white Americans who participated had African ancestry, although the percentage varied regionally. More than 1 in 10 white Americans in southern states like Louisiana and South Carolina had African ancestry.

For self-identified Latinos, those who lived in the southwest had the highest levels of Native American ancestry, but the ancestry ranged from 0 to 50 percent. In southern states like Alabama, Latinos had higher percentages of African ancestry.

The findings, The Journal of Human Genetics said, reflect legacies of slavery, immigration to and migration within the United States.