Genealogy and DNA

Family History Month - October

2011-10-05T08:42:00.002-04:00

The following interesting graphic is from archives.com:

Good news from FTDNA....

2011-08-05T15:35:00.004-04:00

If you have tested with a different DNA company, you very likely now have the opportunity to transfer your results to Family Tree DNA at little or no cost, depending on the company you tested with initially.

Why would you want to do that?

Because FTDNA has the largest database, is highly regarded in the field, is entirely dedicated to genetic genealogy and offers an ever-increasing array of testing opportunities to learn more about your own genetic makeup and to increase the opportunities to extend your genealogy. In addition, a huge number of surname, geographic and haplogroup projects are actively managed at FTDNA, and you will have the opportunity to participate in those.

For details, please see http://www.familytreedna.com/faq/answers.aspx?id=41.

Important New Developments

2011-04-06T08:25:00.004-04:00

DNA testing has made great strides in the past year. We now have the Family Finder test from Family Tree DNA, which has been available for some time and is beginning to produce serious results for genealogists. Last evening, Family Tree DNA announced its newest test: Y-DNA to 111 markers. Previously, the most markers available for testing was 67; this new test is especially for those who have already tested all 67, and now want to confirm suspected matches.

Rather than duplicating information here, I recommend that you follow this blog: http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com, refer to http://www.isogg.org/newbiemenu.htm and consider joining ISOGG and the ISOGG Newbie mailing list.

Proposed Government Regulation

2010-07-23T10:23:00.007-04:00

DNA testing as we know it may soon become extinct.

Meetings in Washington, D.C. this week appear to have ended on a sour note for those of us who are interested in learning about our genome and what it can tell us. The FDA seems intent upon regulation that will eliminate direct-to-consumer testing and instead force all of us to have only doctor-ordered tests and interpretation. The added cost is likely to be prohibitive and will certainly delay the advent of true "personalized medicine" by many years.

While the current focus is on health-related tests and information, there is no reason to believe it will not extend into genealogical testing as well. No one objects to improving laboratory standards; our objection is to intervention that impedes access to information about our own bodies.

For more information, please see Megan Smolenyak's article and the ISOGG response at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smolenyak-smolenyak/dont-protect-us-from-our_b_653474.html and http://scienceblogs.com/geneticfuture/. If you agree, please sign the petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/mydna.

Understanding your DNA Test Results

2010-07-23T10:21:00.001-04:00

For an excellent discussion, visit http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/mydna.

So You're Ready to Test Your DNA?

2010-06-30T18:58:00.006-04:00

(Click here for Step 1 of this series, Which DNA testing company?: http://genealogyanddna.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-youre-ready-to-test-your-dna.html)

Step 2: Which Test to Choose?

A Y-DNA test can only be taken by men (women do not have a Y-chromosome). It tests the straight paternal line -- father to his father to his father, etc. An mtDNA test can be taken by either men or women. It tests their straight maternal line -- mother to her mother to her mother, etc.

How Many Y-DNA Markers?

A Y-DNA test serves two purposes: genealogical and anthropological. The genealogical results are reflected in your haplotype; your haplogroup is anthropological and gives you insight into the path your ancestors took out of Africa many thousands of years ago.

The basic, entry level Y-DNA test is 12 markers. This tells you what your haplogroup is and places you, in a general way, on the tree of mankind. It can also determine that you do not match another man. It cannot tell you that you do match someone else.

The 37-marker Y-DNA test is extremely useful and can be the only test you need to determine whether or not you match another individual or group of men who share a common ancestor.

The definitive test is 67 markers. This is likely to resolve lingering doubts about near matches, for example.

As to learning more about your haplogroup, the Deep Clade test can refine your placement on the Tree of Mankind to enable you to better understand the path your ancestors took out of Africa and sometimes where they settled. There are additional tests that can further refine your anthropological understanding.

Which mtDNA Test?

HVR1 is the basic test that provides the equivalent of a Y-DNA test of 12 markers but only in terms of anthropological time. Any match at this level is virtually meaningless because the time to a common ancestor can be thousands of years ago. The HVR2 test brings this down to, perhaps, a thousand years, which is still not useful for genealogy in most cases. The mega test, or FGS for Full Genetic Sequence, applies only to the mitochondria, but it is the ultimate test for those who wish to find meaningful matches in their maternal line.

What About Autosomal Tests?

This very new type of test can be either health-related or genealogical. 23andMe offers a test that includes both, or you can choose just health-related. Family Tree DNA, which specializes in genealogical testing, offers the Family Finder test that enables us to find distant relatives, including 5th cousins, aunts and uncles, for example. This test is not restricted to males or females; both can participate.

Note that neither of these autosomal tests is a substitute for the Y-DNA or the Full Genetic Sequence mtDNA test.

Summer sale on DNA Extended

2010-06-25T17:49:00.002-04:00

If you have not yet tested your DNA to extend your genealogy, here is a great opportunity for males only. Tests must be ordered and paid for by June 30th:

Y-DNA37 for $119 (Regular price would be $149)

Y-DNA67 for $199 (Regular price would be $239)

Y-DNA37+mtDNA for $159 (Combined test would cost $238)

To order, click on www.familytreedna.com, enter your surname in the search box to find a surname project that includes your name. Click on that project and proceed to order a test.

FDA and DNA testing

2010-06-25T10:25:00.004-04:00

The next time you log into your 23andMe account, you will be asked to sign a new Consent Form. Direct-to-consumer DNA testing companies are under the gun right now as the FDA is considering new regulations. We're fighting back for one major reason; i.e., because we believe everyone has a right to know as much as they want to learn about their own bodies. We know that ordinary consumers like us are making a huge contribution to medical and scientific research because we are providing, for the first time, the sheer volume of data that could never be obtained before for studies like these.

The focus right now is on 23andMe and other companies that are dealing with personal health. It does not seem to be on genetic genealogy companies, but we must all be aware that they are a potential target. Does anyone want to involve their personal physicians in their genealogical studies?!

For more information about what is happening, check the 23andMe blog, especially https://www.23andme.com/you/community/thread/3878/.

A Biologist's Mother's Day Song

2010-05-17T13:19:00.000-04:00

FTDNA's New "Family Finder"

2010-02-17T16:46:00.003-05:00

For an excellent overview of this new offering that is now in beta and scheduled for release next month, see http://www.worldfamilies.net/familyfinder.

FTDNA's new "Family Finder

2010-02-17T16:43:00.001-05:00

Important announcement from Family Tree DNA

2010-02-16T14:11:00.005-05:00

FTDNA announced today the prelaunch of its new offering specifically designed for genealogists but incorporating autosomal testing. See the announcement: http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/family-finder.aspx. For one project administrator's view, also visit: http://genealem-geneticgenealogy.blogspot.com/.

More information will be posted here as it becomes available.

So You're Ready to Test Your DNA?

2010-01-18T20:42:00.005-05:00

This starts a series that will address a variety of testing decisions and concerns.

Today, we address Step #1: Which company should I choose?

If your primary interest is in testing for genealogical purposes, I recommend that you visit the following sites to choose the right testing company. (Hint: They are not all created equal!)

http://www.isogg.org/ydnachart.htm
http://www.isogg.org/mtdnachart.htm
http://www.dna-testing-adviser.com/FamilyTreeDNA.html

For general information about the use of DNA in helping to advance your genealogy, visit http://isogg.org/ and click on Resources in the left sidebar.

23andMe Relative Finder Update

2009-10-27T09:47:00.006-04:00

If you have tested with 23andMe, please follow these instructions to take advantage of their new Relative Finder feature. Received today from 23andMe:

Relative Finder is now in open beta. For the beta period, the number of relatives is limited to 1000, and you can only contact other people who have opted in for the beta test. Spread the word!

Here are instructions.

1. Open the page https://www.23andme.com/user/profile/ and check the checkbox near "Name:" and click on the blue "Save Changes" button.

2. Open the page https://www.23andme.com/user/edit/privacy/ and UNcheck the checkbox near "I do not want to receive sharing invitations from anyone."

3. Open the page https://www.23andme.com/you/relfinder/ and check the checkbox near "Highlight my profile in Relative Finder to show that I'm interested in making connections with potential relatives."

I suggest expanding your profile to include information that will help others decide about the probability of a connection. Profiles are also searchable by keyword, so if you have any special interests (regional/ethnic/whatever), include those in your profile. Then when you send an invitation to someone who's listed at Relative Finder, you can include a link to your profile.

I will be adding my pedigree to my profile (which you can reach by typing my name or email address into the Search Box)in hopes of finding matches.

2009-10-23T08:11:00.003-04:00

23andMe Results

For those who tested with 23andMe in the recent special Beta offer, I am publishing here instructions that were provided by an expert in order to take full advantage of the new Relative Finder feature:

In case you didn't notice, with the new Relative Finder at 23andMe, you
will only have 4th cousins and those further distant showing initially. In
order to enable "close family" matches, which are parents through third
cousins, you need to scroll way down the "close family" column and 3 or 4
screens down you'll see a link to "enable close family matches", or similar
verbiage. You have to click on that to enable matches in the first column.

Also, if you're not set to being searchable, you won't be able to be found
by others. Here's what I posted on my lists tonight in terms of
instructions:

For those of you who decided to participate in the 23andMe Relative Finder
beta project, the results are beginning to come in and the sharing is
beginning. I received this information this evening from Chia at 23andMe
about how to use the new Relative Finder product. Remember, this is still a
beta product and not every feature is working yet, nor are all of the
features that will be available there yet.

After your results are back, you will need to log on and enable sharing by
doing the following:

1. To make yourself searchable so that others can find you, you MUST go
into your account (on the left hand toolbar) under "my profile" and click
the first box beside "name" to make your name and/or e-mail address
shareable. Otherwise, no one will be able to find you to compare results.
I also suggest selecting a nickname. Please note that the nickname is
permanent and cannot be changed. After you select a nickname, be sure the
name box is still checked for searchability.

After you do this, then follow these instructions to join the Relative
Finder beta.
1) Log in to your account and go to www.23andme.com/you/relfinder/ (just
click on this link and it takes you to the logon page).

2) Check the box to Highlight your profile in Relative Finder and join the
Public Beta.

3) Once you've joined, you will see all of your potential relatives, but you
can only contact other relatives who are in the Beta. You will notice them
because they have a blue 'make contact' button and a 'talk bubble' icon in
their profile.

4) If you don't have any relatives in the Beta, please be patient -more
customers are joining the Beta every day.

So, the bottom line to this is that we all need to join and make ourselves
searchable and sharable and enable the Relative Finder function so that
people can find us and share. I have a 4th cousin who has not enabled
sharing and it's killing me wondering who this is.

Projects

Unfortunately, there are no "projects" like we think of them with Family
Tree DNA, so there is no "group" of us to join. They are still working on
this concept and it seems to be foreign to them at this point. So we're
just going to have to invite each other to share.

You can share with others by clicking on "manage sharing" and then invite
someone to share with you. You need to know their e-mail or name and they
need to have made themselves sharable as well.

For those who click on the Relative Finder link, you will see that there are
matches beginning in the "4th cousin" column. You will NOT have any showing
in the "Close Family" column. That's because the default for this column is
"do not show". To enable "close family" matches, which means parents
through third cousins, you must scroll down until you see in that column a
link that says something like "enable close family matches". Click on it.
It warns you that you might find family you didn't know existed, click
"agree" or whatever the verbiage is and then, if others also enable close
family matches, you'll be able to see them.

Roberta Estes

Exciting News for Genealogists

2009-09-27T09:07:00.009-04:00

Until now, the advantages of autosomal testing for genealogy have been elusive at best. But a "new feature" is now available from 23andMe. For example, a female can now participate by taking a DNA test (without a proxy tester) and see if she's related to a male with whom she shares a common ancestor. Another exciting possibility is the opportunity to trace disease or genetic disorders in a family.

There’s much more, of course, and a highly respected genetic genealogist has prepared a series of “essays” describing what autosomal testing does and does not do for genealogists (and anyone else, of course). She has kindly given me permission to post her work here, and I am pleased to share it with you.

Y-DNA, mtDNA and Autosomal Testing
By Roberta Estes, www.dnaexplain.com

Chapter 1. Will Three Sisters Test the Same?

Today's question was whether three sisters would test the same. That's a great question.

First, take a little internet journey and watch a short clip about how autosomal inheritance works. You can find it at http://www.smgf.org/education/animations/autosomal.jspx and it shows you clearly how you inherit from your parents and they from their parents. It's actually very easy to understand when you can see it graphically, much easier to understand than trying to understand it from a verbal description. They explain how autosomal DNA can help you understand both our deep ancestry and our recent genetic past.

You can see in the video how each child actually inherits a random combination of the DNA from their 4 grandparents. The key words here are random combination. In each of the parents, they have DNA from their parents and they can only pass on half of that to each child, so it's randomly combined to form just enough to pass on to a child. Each child gets a different random combination from their parents. Think of 3 different card decks being shuffled. None of the three will be in the exact same order, but they will indeed all have the same cards as members of the deck. If you were deal only half of each deck, each set cards would include different cards from the original deck.

Let's talk for a minute about random recombination. We're learning that maybe random isn't quite as random as we had thought. It has been discovered that some DNA is passed in groups typically and blocks of DNA are often not broken up and are passed together. The closer you are related to someone, the more likely it will be that you will carry some of the same blocks of DNA that they do. The more distantly related, the fewer blocks you'll have in common and the smaller those blocks will be. This is one of the ways that 23andMe determines your genetic distance from someone and they classify you as "close relative", 3rd cousin, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.

So to answer the original question, three sisters (or siblings) would not test the same because they would inherit different genes from their parents, which are actually a recombination of the DNA of their 4 grandparents.

Some portions of the test results you would expect to be more similar than others.
-Health Traits - some of these might be the same, but some might be completely different as well due to the inheritance patterns.
-Haplogroup - mitochondrial haplogroup would be identical assuming the same mother, Yline haplogroup would be identical for males assuming the same father
-Ethnicity - this is the interesting area where sibling can actually differ depending on the genes they inherited. One sibling could indeed have somewhat different results for their percent ethnicity due to the genes they did, or did not, inherit from their parents/grandparents.
-"New Feature" - this should be pretty much the same, but might differ on more distant relationships due to recombination

In a nutshell, you can't extrapolate the health information of your sibling to be your own because you inherit differently from your parents. You can extrapolate some of your ancestry information to be the same as your own, but not all of it. I think it would be very interesting to compare the results of a number of parent/child and sibling tests to see how well 23andMe does in their "new feature" predictions.

Chapter 2. Proving Relationships

Today I'm going to talk about using this test to prove a relationship.
I can't tell you how many times over the years I've had someone ask me if there as any way to "prove that so and so is my cousin". Of course, the scenario varies with males and females, how closely related, etc., but the basic question is still the same. Before now, I always had to tell them one of three things:
1. If you are both males and share the surname, you can do the Y dna test which won't absolutely "prove" it, but is pretty compelling evidence. However this scenario applied to few of the people asking.
2. If you both descend from a common female through female lines, you can test your mtdna. Most of the time however, the question of paternity was more of the father's identity and did not include a question about the mother.
3. You can turn to paternity/siblingship testing at a separate nongenealogy lab. These labs attempt to "reconstuct" families using the DNA of the two people in question of course, and hope to get more members of the family (like their parents) to participate as well so that the DNA can be attributed to a source and thereby eliminated or included in the equation. This approach is extremely expensive and often inconclusive.

Let me share my own story.
My father died in a car accident when I was 7 years old. After my step-mother passed away some 25 years later, her daughter sent me a bundle of letters that had to do with my family. One of these letters included a letter from my aunt (my father's sister) to my step-mother. When I first started doing genealogy, some 30+ years ago now, I had called this aunt and asked her many questions. Although she answered them for me, or I thought she had, she apparently was not inclined to divulge what she thought were the family secrets. So she wrote a letter to my step-mother telling her all about how unhappy she was that I was asking "all those nosey questions" and then proceeded to tell my step-mother just what it was she was NOT going to tell me and how it was really none of my business, etc. Well, thank goodness she did that, because several years later, I would get my answers from that very letter. Isn't fate a wonderful thing sometimes.

In the letter was a reference to the fact that my father had another child, a boy. I was utterly stunned. I asked my mother about this and she was very guarded, to say the least, about the topic. I would later learn that it's because the child was born only 5 months before I was born. My father was somewhat of a "colorful character", to put it mildly, and my mother was very embarrassed about the situation. So, apparently, was the other woman, my brother's mother. My father literally had two families in two different states. Talk about the consummate "traveling salesman" story. Anyway, that aside, I began a search for my brother whose name I didn't even know. Talk about a needle in a haystack.

Fast forward about 20 years. I finally found my brother through a combination of dogged research and happy accidents. One of my biggest breaks was when I was trying to apply for a passport and discovered that there had been something filed in a court in Fort Wayne, Indiana having to do with me. I asked my mother why it was filed in Fort Wayne and she told me that was where my father was living at the time. I went to Fort Wayne (to the genealogy library there) for other purposes and subsequently happened by an old City Directory. On a whim I picked it up and found my father, his "wife" and MY BROTHER’S NAME. After that, it wasn't easy, but at least I had names and locations to use. My aunt was long dead by this time and my mother had already told me what she knew, which was little. She knew the first name of the "other woman", but nothing more. At least that much confirmed that I had located the right family.

After searching for nearly 20 years, I finally found my brother a few years ago and he had no idea I existed. He had no siblings and his mother was now deceased as well. We're both glad to have family. He took the Yline DNA test and he did not match the ancestral Estes family. However, that doesn't mean he's not my father's son, because we don't have the DNA of my father. Nor did we have the DNA of my Estes grandfather. My grandfather only had 2 sons who grew to adulthood and had sons that survived past childhood. The one Estes male living in that line took the DNA test, and he didn't match either the Estes ancestral line nor my brother. Now we were really up the creek without a proverbial paddle. I was lucky enough to find one male who descended from my great-grandfather who was still alive and he tested as well, and he does match the Estes ancestral line, so we know that the "break" in the DNA line came either with my grandfather's parentage or his son's parentage or his grandson's parentage.

If you're keeping track here, we have 4 possible locations for the DNA to have been "switched". The names below are fake to protect the guilty:)
My grandfather Will.
My grandfather's first son Joe (my father's brother).
Joe's son.
Joe's grandson (who took the test).
My brother (not my father's biological child).
Or a combination of these things.

Here's what I think happened and why.
Joe was the first child born to my grandparents. He arrived 5 months after their marriage. Pure and simple, I think that he was not the child of my grandfather. My grandfather may have known this, or maybe not. I also think that my brother is possibly not my father's child (remember he was gone a lot) as his "other wife" was known to be somewhat promiscuous. But of course there are other scenarios and proof has remained elusive.

How would my brother and I ever unravel this mess? At this point we turned to paternity/siblingship testing. This was extremely expensive, about $1000 for each test. We took this test twice, at two different labs, because the first test came back inconclusive. We match at enough markers to be "suspicious" and at few enough markers for them to declare that we are "probably not half-siblings" but might be related more distantly. Given the geographic circumstances, it's unlikely that we're related at all if we're not half siblings. We were at this point even more exasperated, but we were at the end of what technology had to offer us at the time.

With the introduction of this new test at 23andMe, we will have our answer shortly. 23andMe tests over half a million locations on our DNA, not just the 15 locations that paternity/siblingship testing has to offer. With the "new feature" product, we'll know for sure if we are half-siblings or not.

How will we feel about this? We've discussed it. Both of us knew our father as our father and he viewed and treated us both as his children. We consider ourselves to be brother and sister and whether that is a function of biology or circumstances is irrelevant in terms of how we view each other. It's no different to us that if one of us were adopted by our parents, we would still be siblings. I am the only family he has (other than his kids) and for me, I have one other half-sibling on my mother's side and that's all I have as well (other than my kids). The world is too small to exclude anyone from the family circle to do with circumstances over which they have no control. But, we do still want to know. He wants to know who his father is and I want to know if I've been doing the wrong genealogy for 30+ years. If I'm not really an Estes biologically (meaning my brother is my biological brother, which means his yline DNA is that of my father and means my father doesn't match the ancestral Estes line), then I'd like to know so I can stop doing the Estes genealogy and move on to whatever family I should be researching.

This has been a long story, but I hope it serves to illustrate how this type of testing can begin to answer questions that were unanswerable before this kind of technology was available.

Chapter 3. Proving Native Ancestry

The most common question I've received about the new test is if it will detect Native ancestry.

Ironically, I've spent the past 10 years trying to get people to understand about paternal dna lines (yline testing) and maternal dna lines (mitochondrial dna testing). And everyone has done a great job of learning that, so now folks are having trouble shifting gears.

The answer is yes, it will help you determine if you have Native heritage AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MALE OR FEMALE LINES OR IF MALES OR FEMALES TAKE THE TEST.

This test tests over half a million locations of your DNA. Compare that to the various yline tests which test 12, 25, 37, 67, etc or the mtdna test which tests between 1000 and 16,000 locations, depending on the test your order. This is a different kind of test entirely and does not replace those kinds of tests.

In this test, you will receive your percent of ethnicity divided between European, African and Asian. In our case in the US, Asian would equate to Native heritage. So if your Native ancestor is far back in your pedigree chart, you can expect to see a few percent of Asian heritage. This answers the question of "if", but not the answer of "who" the ancestor is who contributed that Native heritage. For that answer, you'll need to revert to the traditional yline and mtdna testing which, if you find enough people to test in your tree, will eventually show which of your ancestors was indeed the Native heritage contributor. Unfortunately for many of us, it will be one of those women whose first name we have and nothing more, or perhaps someone yet unidentified in our charts, making tracking people descended through a female only line impossible. For us, just knowing positively that we do, or don't, have Native heritage may be the best information we will ever be able to glean. On the other hand, if we do have Native heritage, we can use the "new feature" to locate cousins and then we can ask them if they too have Native heritage, so we can probably eliminate some lines in that fashion. We can also arrange for others to test who are in our pedigree chart to see if they too have native heritage, although one has to be careful with drawing conclusions from others tests because Native heritage might have entered their lines from another source. The best bet would be to have our parents test so we can see where it came from. If parents aren't available, full siblings of the parent would be the next best bet.

So, the answer to this question is yes, this tool can be useful in determining whether you have Native ancestry or not.

Chapter 4 How Helpful are the Health Traits Really?

I've had some questions about the Health Traits and how useful they really are. And yes, these are true genetic tests, not some kind of "tea leaf" thing:)

Some are what I call "conversation traits". These are things like baldness, eye color, hair color, freckling and alcohol flush reaction. Some are just "for fun". And as for alcohol flush reaction, you can discover if you flush (as in turn red, not the toilet) when you drink alcohol for the price of a beer, but I digress…..

However, other types of tests are much, much more important and serious. The one most sought after is probably the various breast cancer tests. My sister-in-law had just one test done for the BRCA1 gene at the doctor's office and it cost her over $1800 plus two office visits. This test is included in this panel. How can they do that you ask? Well, if you read the fine print, on the back end, you are asked periodically to opt in and out of various medical studies. I'm very interested in Parkinson’s Disease and want to participate in any way I can in finding a cure.

Let's talk about Parkinson's disease. First, if you turn up more at risk than average for something, it doesn't mean you're going to get that disease, it only means that you need to be more cognizant than you might otherwise be. It's a kind of medical "heads up". My grandfather "shook", but he never had any other Parkinson's symptoms. My mother as she aged "shook" as well, and by process of elimination, the doctor decided she had Parkinson's. Like my grandfather, she never developed any other symptoms. The Parkinson's drugs they gave her never had any effect except to make her sick, but like so many people of her generation, she refused to tell the doctor because "he wouldn't have prescribed them if he hadn't wanted me to take them". Bless her heart and God rest her soul, but the woman was stubborn!

My brother and I never believed she had Parkinson's, we believe she had something called Familial Tremor, also known as Essential Tremor. There's a big difference. Parkinson's is a disease that slowly robs one of their ability to physically function and eventually, their mental ability as well. It is in the end fatal. Essential tremor is irritating and troublesome in terms of spilling things, but is no place near the health issue that Parkinson's is. When I tested, I do not have an elevated risk for Parkinson's disease which I would have expected if mother and my grandfather both had it. My brother is shaking a bit already. Recently 23andMe added the category of Essential Tremor. When I first logged on and saw this, I was thrilled. Each "trait" or "status" or "disease" has it's own writeup about it. I verified that this was indeed the disease I thought it was and do you think I have an increased risk for Essential Tremor????? Surely you know that I do. Had we had this type of info available when mother was alive, we could have tested her for $xxx and she would never had to live with the devastation of a misdiagnosis and all of those nasty drugs that made her sick for the last several years of her life. We could have taken this info to her doctors. Now, my brother and I don’t have to worry (as much) about whether or not Parkinson's is in our future. We just know we'll likely spill our coffee so we can use spill-proof travel mugs.

Let's use one other example. One of the traits is "Warfarin sensitivity". Warfarin is the generic name for blood thinner drugs taken by so many people to prevent blood clots. Genetic markers determine how you metabolize Warfarin. Regulating Warfarin is tricky indeed requiring weekly blood draws until by trial and error the correct dosage is obtained. With this new info available, you can provide your doctor with the info about how you metabolize Warfarin, allowing him or her to adjust your dosage more accurately from the beginning, with less trial and error.

Lastly, let's look at Prostate cancer. One in 6 men develop this disease. While women can't get it, as they don't have a prostate, they can indeed pass the propensity for prostate cancer to their children. That doesn't seem fair does it? Men should be checked regularly, but if you know that you have an increased risk for the disease, you can start earlier and you can be more vigilant in order to catch it earlier, if you do develop the disease. Prostate cancer caught early is very curable.

So in a nutshell, the health traits portion is empowering. It allows you to be more vigilant and more educated about your own body. It also allows you to do this privately, without your insurance company having knowledge that this type of testing was performed, meaning that you can introduce the results into your medical record only if and when YOU see fit!!! If your parents can test, it also allows you to "see" where the particular elevation for a particular health trait came from in your family. This can also be quite important for your children or in situations where adoptions have occurred and nothing about the health of the a persons family is known.

You can see a list of these traits and read about them at https://www.23andme.com/health/.

[Note from Doris: These health tests are not the same ones your doctor might order. They may be less extensive and therefore less useful, but as an adjunct to the test’s usefulness in genealogy, they are certainly worthwhile and have proven to be useful.]

Chapter 5. 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA Testing - How are they different and how are they the same?

Someone asked if the new autosomal testing replaces the traditional Yline and mtdna testing we've been having done within and outside of our projects at Family Tree DNA. The answer is a resounding ABSOLUTELY NOT - THIS DOES NOT REPLACE TRADITIONAL GENEALOGY TESTING!!! Don't think for a minute that it does:) Makes my heart skip a beat to even think that anyone might consider this.

Let's talk about the two types of ancestry testing and what you get with each company (and each type of testing).

Family Tree DNA specializes in testing for genealogy, meaning Yline, mitochondrial and deep ancestry. They provide great products to do this, some that are not offered by others, but also interpretative tools for each individual. Most importantly, they provide surname, haplogroup and geographic projects (and tools) that allow us to group ourselves together, to study our results and to make sense of our personal and group ancestry. Yes, I know that various other companies provide pieces and parts of this too, but FTDNA provides the largest set of tools and the largest data base and that is where all of my projects reside so that is who I'm discussing. Any other company would represent a subset of what is offered by FTDNA.

At 23andMe, you are provided with your haplogroup assignment. If you are male, you get both yline and mtdna. I don't know how they assign the yline haplogroups, but I do know that they do not test your DNA for insertions and deletions. In some cases, tiny bits of your dna drop out, which is called a deletion, and in other cases, a bit of it "cuts in line" and that is called an insertion. 23andMe tests only specific locations using chip technology, which is how they can test so much of your DNA, but it does not allow them the latitude to "look around" for insertions and deletions. When assigning mitochondrial haplogroups, this is critically important as many haplogroup assignments depend on insertions an deletions, so their mitochondrial haplogroup assignments are sometimes incorrect. Mine is incorrect which frustrates me incredibly.

Family Tree DNA on the other hand does a full sequence analysis when you purchase the Full Sequence product (FGS) and they do "look around" giving you a complete picture of your mito DNA including insertions and deletions. Their product is not only more accurate, you also get to match to others who have tested at the HVR1, 2 and full sequence levels and receive their e-mail addresses. Family Tree DNA provides us with the matching feature for results plus notification.

23andMe does not test the normal genealogy markers panels, the STRs, for yline. This means that there are no 12, 25, 37 or 67 marker values reported and these are the genealogy values we all need to determine if we are related to the "Smith line from Surry County, Virginia" as opposed to the "Smith line from Tyrrell County, North Carolina". This was and is the most important part of genetic ancestry testing and you don't get it at 23andMe. Their product offerings are different and can be used in conjunction with these tests, but have nothing to offer in this area.

Please be aware that this is not meant to be critical of either company, only to explain their differences and where both of them fit into the scheme for genealogists and when using each company is appropriate genealogically.

Family Tree DNA provides us with organized projects to compare the genealogical data as well, which is the second half of the genealogy equation, having the tools to do something with those raw results. Bless them, over and over, for this. They have also given us Ysearch, another great tool that everyone can use, meaning not just FTDNA clients, to compare your DNA.

FTDNA clients also receive important tools and information tabs including the haplotree which graphically displays info about your haplogroup, your SNPs (which are not separately reported at 23andMe in a usable fashion), migration routes, haplogroup percents, ancestral origins, and the maps. The mapping feature is often overlooked and that's sad because if people entered their oldest ancestor info and their location, it provides a great deal of "patterning" in terms of migration, especially related to haplogroups and families in Europe, but I am digressing again. I just worked on a haplogroup N1c1 project where the maps were critical to determining where the gentleman's ancestor actually came from.

Not to mention that Family Tree DNA offers their new Traits, the boutique SNP selections, the Personal Reports, upgrades, and probably other things I'm not thinking about. They also provide administrators with tools and the conference for education. These things, except for the Traits, are not offered at 23andMe, and even if they were, the sheer number of people in the Family Tree Data Base who are obviously interested in genealogy provides the perfect environment for the genealogist.

Having said that, the importance of the 23andMe testing, aside from the Health Traits which are great (and worth every penny), but not typically the primary interest of genealogists, is their foray into autosomal testing and making it relevant for genealogists. Because they are using the chip technology that allows them to test half a million locations and store those results, it also makes it doable to measure inheritance segments and translate that into degrees of relationship. Family Tree DNA does not do this today. How well 23andMe can do this remains to be seen, but that is the focus of the "new feature" project.

Again, because of the sheer number of locations tested, it allows research to correlate the values at certain DNA locations with geographic ancestral locations. This has manifested itself in the percentages of Ethnicity reported by 23andMe. 23andMe and DeCodeMe both report this percentage today for European, African and Asian, but while 23andMe has aggressively priced their products and pursued the genealogy community, DeCodeMe has not and the result is that few use their service and most use 23andMe for wide spectrum (chip) testing. Many in the US are interested in their minority ancestry, whatever that happens to be. For me, minority means Native and African. 23andMe (and DeCodeMe) both tell me IF I carry that ancestry, by percent, but not where. Based on comparisons with some of the early testing companies (DNAPrint) they are much much more accurate in their assessment than the earlier tests that measured only a few locations. However, in order to find that elusive minority ancestor, I need to return to traditional genealogy testing, yline and mtdna, with the features of matching to people, within and outside of projects, with e-mail addresses to contact. To do this, I encourage people to construct their own DNA Personal Pedigree Chart. You can see an article about how to do this at this link or I can send it to you as a pdf file. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~molcgdrg/pubs/p3.htm Be sure to check existing surname projects to see if someone from your distant lines has already tested. To do this, go to www.familytreedna.com and enter the surname in the search box in the upper right hand corner.

So when do you use which company?

For genealogy, always test your yline and mtdna using the traditional tools, join the projects at FTDNA, compare your genealogical results to others, and learn as much as you can using these tools. They are very specific and can tell you whether you are related to a particular family or person via a particular line, meaning the paternal or maternal. You also receive your deep ancestry results which are just genealogy back further in time and without last names. Deep Clade testing allows you to become very granular in terms of the timeframe of when your ancestors were where. With the advances we've made with SNP information in the past few months and years, it won't be long before the SNP timeframe meets the genealogy timeframe and in some cases, we're connecting the dots very successfully today.

The 23andMe tests are more of the "graduate class" for genealogists, aside from their Health Traits of course. I can't imagine a genealogist ever testing at 23andMe and NOT testing their yline, mtdna and comparing them to others at Family Tree DNA in their projects. Many of us want to answer questions that yline and mtdna just haven't been able to answer for us, and that's why we've turned to autosomal testing. Of course, there is also a curiosity factor, pure and simple, in terms of ethnicity and also in terms of the Health traits that may attract some folks. Many will purchase the test for the Health Traits alone whether they are interested in genealogy or not. But if they are serious genealogists, they will use the two types of testing together to achieve our ultimate goals of unraveling our ancestors.

Genetics for genealogy is truly the best tool we've ever had as genealogists, and it gets better every day.

by Roberta Estes
www.dnaexplain.com

ISOGG and NIST

2009-09-14T08:12:00.004-04:00

There is an interesting article this week in the Plus edition of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter http://www.eogn.com. Written by Chris Pomery, a respected author in the field of genetic genealogy, it provides insight into the adaptations needed by all the testing firms to comply with new standards of reporting testing results.

Family Tree DNA has been in the forefront of this effort, and ISOGG, the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, has taken the lead in working with NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

As an aside, I encourage everyone to join ISOGG www.isogg.org, which has become an international leader and focal point for all things related to genetic genealogy. Its website is chock full of interesting information and includes the respected JOGG, Journal of Genetic Genealogy, an ISOGG publication. Membership is free.

Direct to Consumer Testing Issues

2009-09-07T10:40:00.002-04:00

Will Genetic Genealogy Lose Its Place?

A small but vocal group of scientists and legislators are clamoring for government regulation of DNA testing. A few states have already succumbed to this hysteria, and Washington has dipped its toe into the murky waters.

What does this mean to family genealogists like us? It could mean that we would have to have our family doctor submit an order for us to obtain a simple Y-DNA test. And the results would go to him or her. (Could there be a touch of self-interest on the part of the scientific and medical community?) As genealogists, how many of us would be willing to involve our personal doctor in our genealogy quest – and pay for the privilege? What does our family doctor know about genealogy, and does he care? Is he really the best qualified person to interpret results for us? Did you ever think you would have to get your family doctor to approve before you could do genealogy? It all sounds rather silly to me.

One argument in favor of such regulation is that people do not understand what they are getting when they buy a test. But isn’t this true of many things? Isn’t it up to the consumer to research and understand what he is buying? Another is that there are claims being made by some companies that promise far more than they can deliver. But this is a fact of life. It is up to the consumer to evaluate these claims.

I am proud to know that Family Tree DNA (the company I have chosen for all my DNA Projects (see links in the sidebar) is the acknowledged leader in the business of genetic genealogical testing and, in fact, was awarded the Better Business Bureau’s Award for Excellence in customer service. Its website has been designated as the "Best Cutting Edge Web Site" by Family Tree Magazine. Even more important is the fact that Family Tree DNA (and ISOGG, the International Society for Genetic Genealogy) provides references to an extensive library of books, videos and scientific journals for its customers’ edification. It has knowledgeable people on staff (as well as a full complement of scientists) who can and do answer questions in a timely manner. It is deeply involved in scientific research to find new SNPs and STRs that offer new avenues to pursue for those who are interested in both anthropology and genealogy and in getting as much as possible out of their testing experience. (SNPs are the portions of DNA that reflect deep ancestry – thousands of years ago. STRs are the markers used for genealogical purposes.)

Another service provided by FTDNA is its support for “projects.” All project members benefit from that support by having access to significantly reduced prices and special promotions that are only available through projects. Additionally, volunteer project administrators like me are provided with ongoing education so that we can better serve our clients. We seek to educate and to help explain test results so that our clients do understand what they are buying and why, and what the results mean.

While the line between genetic genealogy and genome testing for health reasons is quite sharp, the naysayers are beginning to disregard that line and lump all genetic testing together. That is a sad day for genealogists who are just now beginning to reap the solid rewards of having databases that are large enough to provide answers to sticky questions. Ever larger databases of test results help all of us learn more about our family history and answer the age-old question, “Where do we come from?”. Any disruption of the flow of new testees is a disservice to those who have already tested and to the cause of genealogy for everyone. The jury is still out regarding the viability of genetic testing for disease. Obviously, again, the size of the database is critical and our knowledge will grow only as the database grows. And, in addition to all the reasons given above, there is the simple matter of personal choice that is taken away by increased regulation.

Since the key is an educated public, here are two websites that are highly recommended: www.isogg.org and www.thegeneticgenealogist.com.

Doris Wheeler, 8 Jul 2009

About Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing

2009-09-02T17:18:00.002-04:00

There is confusion about DNA testing for medical purposes versus testing for genealogy. A very good discussion of the latter can be found at http://www.worldfamilies.net/blog/15323.

Please leave a comment or email me if you have any questions.

Regards,
Doris Wheeler

Palatine DNA Project Update

2009-08-25T11:39:00.001-04:00

Good morning, Palatine Project Members.

If you have subscribed to Family Tree DNA’s free newsletter, “Facts & Genes,” you should have received the latest issue. If you did not, please let me know so I can forward it to you. There is a great deal of important information, including a limited-time sale on the Deep Clade and Deep Clade Extended tests.

The World Families site has been updated, except that I have a backlog of pedigrees to add. Some of you have not yet submitted your pedigree, so this would be a great time to do it. Just check the desired format on the Patriarchs page at www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/palatine and submit it using the Pedigree tab at the top of the page, or email it to me.

If you have wondered why there are blanks in the first column of the Results Table at www.ftdna.com/public/PalatineDNAProject, it is because some of you have not updated your Preferences page, i.e., you have not added your earliest known ancestor. Whatever you place in that field is what shows up on the Results chart. I try to place just your surname in that block if you have not filled it in, but that is not meaningful. If you have traced your line to a 1710 immigrant, please be sure to identify him as such. A Hunter List number is the best shortcut identifier, but name and date will do. Over the next year, we will be analyzing project results in an effort to draw some conclusions as to general relatedness and origins of our ancestors. It is essential that we have the benefit of your own genealogical work to do that effectively.

Please be sure to use the project ID that you can find in the Message field at the top left of your personal page.

Some of you have chosen to see matches only for your surname. I strongly recommend that you reconsider this. As we all know in genealogy, the spelling of names changes over time and you may be missing some important connections. This option is presented on your Preferences page, and you can change it if you wish. A better choice, if you are seeing too many matches at the 12-marker level, is to uncheck that item to prevent having huge numbers of matches to unrelated persons.

I hope to see many of you in New York next June for the 300th anniversary of the 1710 Palatine migration to New York. It will be held at the Holiday Inn in Fishkill, NY June 18-19. The program for June 18 will include a choice of:

- A tour of historic Palatine Sites
- A single track of presentations on Germany genealogy

and a banquet and presentation by Philip Otterness. (On a personal note, if you have not read his book, Becoming German, the 1709 Palatine Migration to New York, pub. Cornell University Press, 2004, I highly recommend it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a great deal about our ancestors.)

On Saturday, June 19, there will be a double track of presentations by Philip Otterness, Richard Haberstroh, Mel Wolfgang, Leslie Huber, Joseph Lieby and yours truly on behalf of the Palatine DNA Project.

Since this event is sponsored by the New York Chapter and will be the centerpiece of the 2010 National Conference of Palatines to America, you may want to visit their website and join: www.palam.org. I don’t know if nonmembers will be allowed to participate.

You may recall that there will be another event in October 2010 in Germantown, NY, site of East Kamp where many 1710ers settled. (It is just across the river from West Kamp where the rest settled.) I do not have details on that, but I believe it is being treated as an historic event and no membership requirement should exist. Henry Z. Jones will be the featured speaker.

I hope you will read “Facts & Genes” and let me know if you have questions that I can help to answer. This latest edition appears on my blog, along with this project update: http://genealogyanddna.blogspot.com/.

Questions are always welcome.

Best regards,
Doris Wheeler, Project administrator

Family Tree DNA Newsletter

2009-08-21T21:34:00.003-04:00

Facts & Genes: Click here to view the latest newsletter

Palatine DNA Project Update May 6, 2009

2009-07-28T09:17:00.001-04:00

Hello, Everyone.

Just a few items for discussion….

The latest news regarding the 2010 celebration of the arrival of 1710 Palatines in New York is that there will be at least two major events. One will be the national convention of Palatines to America, which will be held in Fishkill, Dutchess County, NY June 17 to 19, 2010, sponsored by the New York Chapter. The other will be in Germantown, Columbia County, NY, where East Kamp was located. It will be held October 2 and 3, 2010. Hank Jones will be the featured guest at this second event, which will include demonstrations of early farming tasks, etc. I will provide more information as it becomes available.

The presidents of Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY) and Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY) have expressed interest in our DNA project, although we have no firm commitment from either. In any case, our project will be of major interest to all those involved in the 2010 events. It can only be viewed as a succesful project, however, if we have both broad representation and pedigrees that reflect the genealogy that goes hand in hand with DNA testing. I ask everyone to please review your pedigree on the Patriarchs page at www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/palatine and send any corrections to me. If you have not already submitted your pedigree, please do so now. If I have overlooked some submissions or inadvertently “lost” them as a result of computer glitches and redesigned web sites causing an inordinate amount of disruption, please forgive me and resubmit. Notice that we are looking for basic information only. Details should be provided in Gedcoms uploaded to FTDNA, Ysearch, Rootsweb and other web sites.

I have reorganized the Patriarchs page (Y-DNA) into three groups:

1. Those who have a strong paper trail and/or a DNA match to a descendant of a 1710 immigrant to New York. All of these show a Hunter List number.
2. Those who are likely to be related to a 1710er, but no firm evidence exists.
3. Those whose immigrant ancestor came later or is not yet identified but has a name or other clue.

The hope is that as our membership grows, more men will be matched so as to confirm or deny relatedness. I urge everyone to encourage the people they match who may be outside our project to join us so that we can have a broad base for this important study.

Additional testing is something many of you may want to consider. For Y-DNA, for genealogical purposes, the norm is 37 markers. Many upgrade to 67, especially if they are trying to confirm a possible/probable match. But there are other tests, too, that should be evaluated. For example, a Deep Clade test will refine your haplogroup placement on the tree of mankind and help to determine the path your early ancestors took out of Africa and on to populate the world. Additionally, there are Advanced Tests for some haplogroups that refine this placement even further and contribute to population research. For example, if your haplogroup has been predicted to be R1b1b2 and you have not had a Deep Clade test that included L-21, you may want to order it or the L-21 Advanced Test to become part of a special study being made of a subset of the German population that tests reveal is L-21+.

For one’s maternal line there are three levels of testing mtDNA. The first, HVR1, provides the first level of haplogroup but little chance for finding genealogical matches. The second, HVR2, offers a somewhat better chance, although still quite remote, for genealogical purposes. The third and ultimate test is the FGS, or Full Genetic Sequence. According to FTDNA, “The entire mitochondrial genome is tested and this is the last mtDNA test that a person would need to take. A perfect match indicates a common ancestor in recent times. Results identify the ethnic and geographic origin of the maternal line.”

Please notice that FTDNA has made a change to how the earliest known ancestor is displayed. From your personal page, you will now see a new category in the left column: My Maps. Here you will see a map and whatever you have stated as your earliest known ancestor and origin. Click on Edit to make any changes to that information. FTDNA has added a feature that automatically assigns the latitude/longitude to the location you specify and this in turn permits your ancestral point to be placed on the map. This is a valuable feature for all of us, and I hope you will be sure to make this entry as meaningful as possible. Remember, this is also what appears on the Results Chart instead of your actual name or kit number at www.ftdna.com/public/palatinednaproject.

I hope all of you have gained some benefit from the application of DNA testing to your traditional genealogy, and I hope you will share any and all success stories! Please keep me informed of any new discoveries and new genealogical breakthroughs. It is important to all of us to recruit more men and women to be tested, and success stories are key. Be sure to have new prospects join a project, either geographic like this one or surname, first to benefit from the greatly reduced prices afforded to projects.

Finally, if you have not already done so, please upload your results to Ysearch and/or Mitosearch. Links are provided on your personal page under Matches. The upload is done automatically by FTDNA, but you must initiate it and obtain a user name and password so that you can check for matches at these public databases. You should do this often.

Your questions and comments are always welcome. Please don’t hesitate to write or call me (770-483-2903).

Happy researching!

Best regards,
Doris Wheeler, Volunteer Project Administrator
www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/palatine
www.ftdna.com/public/palatineDNAproject
www.ftdna.com/public/palatine-mtDNA

DNA Project Update July 14, 2009

2009-07-28T09:11:00.000-04:00

Good morning, Everyone.

This is to remind you of the July sale at Family Tree DNA. You can order the 37-marker Y-DNA test for just $119, but only through the end of July. Please be sure to tell your friends and family members, especially distant cousins who can help solve long-standing puzzles and brick walls. This price is available only to projects, so everyone should find a project to join first – either surname or geographic.

I also want to mention the new social networking site specifically for genealogists: http://www.GenealogyWise.com. We now have a Palatine Group there http://www.genealogywise.com/group/palatinesof1710 and you are encouraged to sign up and use it to further your genealogy and to find answers to many questions. The site has met with extraordinary success since launching just last Friday. Come explore!

Another item that may interest you is a blog I have set up specifically to deal with genetic genealogy. It will not be updated on a regular basis, only when I feel there is something worthwhile to share. Do join us there and feel free to comment: http://GenealogyAndDNA.blogspot.com.

Still hoping someone would like to share some of the joys of managing our project. You may help however you like, spend as much or as little time as you wish. All takers are welcome!

Write anytime with questions, comments, or….

Best regards,
Doris Wheeler

DNA Project Update March 19, 2009

2009-07-28T09:08:00.001-04:00

DNA Project Update March 19, 2009

Last weekend I had the good fortune to attend the fifth annual conference of project administrators sponsored by Family Tree DNA in Houston. This is always a worthwhile event, and I’d like to share with all of you some of what I learned.

Websites: I’m sure most of you have already noticed that the FTDNA website has had a significant upgrade and is much easier to navigate and use. (Of course, the same is true of our World Families Network site.)

Haplogroups: The haplogroup tree (also known as phylogenetic tree or tree of mankind) is constantly growing as new SNPs are discovered. Some of you have had the Deep Clade test, which refines your individual placement on the tree (determines the subgroup to which you belong and, therefore, the smallest twig so far identified on your branch). To explore where you now are placed, go to your personal page at FTDNA and click on the Haplotree tab. There are also advanced tests to further refine your placement in subgroups. There is a bit of overlap among the various panels of Advanced Tests now, but this is undergoing careful examination and will be minimized if not eliminated soon.

Some of the advanced tests can be helpful in establishing break points in lineages in order to assign descendants within a family to a specific common ancestor.

Projects: Effective immediately, everyone tested at Family Tree DNA may join as many projects as he or she wishes. (Click the Join tab on your personal page and scroll through the options.) You are certainly encouraged to join your haplogroup project, of course, since you can only match someone who has the same haplogroup that you do.

You may also join geographic projects that interest you. For example, if you have German roots, you may want to join the Germany-DNA and the Colonial German DNA project as well as the Palatine project if you fit within the parameters of all three groups. Or join the British Isles and Lancashire groups if that is your place of origin.

Of course, the surname project continues to be the primary project for everyone if one exists for your name. Remember to look for alternative spellings too.

Legal Concerns: Legislation has been passed in California, New York and Maryland that prevents the sale of DNA kits direct to consumers. They require that a medical professional place the order. More legislation is threatened in other states. FTDNA is working with authorities to help disassociate genealogical testing from medical testing. There is much confusion among the public, which often does not distinguish between them. As you know, genealogical testing is not autosomal testing. That is, it does not deal with 22 of the 23 chromosomes we inherit from each parent. We look only at the non-recombining 23rd chromosome, the Y chromosome for men and the mitochondria for women.

The position that we project administrators all agree on is that we should not be prevented from learning as much as we wish about ourselves. A genealogical DNA test is certainly less revealing than a paternity test or, indeed, a pregnancy test, both of which are readily available over the counter. Results from these can produce far more anguish than dealing with ancestry issues in most cases. A bill was introduced in Congress, but it is not actively being considered now. Most proposed legislation is aimed at companies like 23andMe and DeCodeMe that are medically oriented and test the other 22 chromosomes, but there is a potential risk for confusion between them and Family Tree DNA.

Testing Standards: FTDNA has always worked closely with the National Institute of Standards, which has finally taken a position that should help to standardize test results nomenclature across testing companies. Some labs have always taken a proprietary approach, and they may continue to do so, but standards are now in place. Each of you may see some of your marker values change over the coming weeks as FTDNA implements changes to three of its markers. This does not mean there is any underlying change, only in the nomenclature.

National Geographic/Genographic Project: This project will continue to recruit participants until sometime next year. At that time, they will destroy all samples submitted to them. If you know anyone who has tested with National Geographic, be sure to encourage them to authorize their transfer to Family Tree DNA to allow future testing. As you may know, FTDNA does all the testing for this project. Therefore, they have physical possession of the samples to be destroyed. Transfer to FTDNA’s repository is therefore FREE and very simple to accomplish. The testee simply signs into his page at National Geographic/Genographic, scrolls to the bottom of the page where it says “More information…”, clicks on it and finds the link to authorize transfer.

All of you who have already tested with FTDNA may have your results added to the National Geographic Project for a charge of $15. This allows you to contribute to this major population study, which I highly recommend. The option to allow you to do this is on your personal page at FTDNA.

About mtDNA: As we all know, it is extremely difficult to trace a maternal lineage because the surname changes every generation. The mtDNA test has been less than useful genealogically because mtDNA mutates so slowly. HVR I reveals one mutation per 20,000 years! The one significant factor is “private SNPs” which can only be discovered in the FGS (Full Genetic Sequence) test. The FGS mutation rate is one per 4,000 years. FTDNA now has 4100 FGS test results in its database. When uploaded to GenBank, these results are an extremely valuable resource for geneticists and population scientists.

Work in Progress: A “walk through the Y” is a new offering that is still experimental. It is a way to participate in advanced testing that is expected to yield new SNPs within haplogroups but geared to specific subgroups of people who might benefit from a deep analysis of the Y. At a cost of $750, it is not expected to attract large numbers of people, but we will watch carefully as work continues.

The lab is working to develop a new “maximum likelihood” estimated TMRCA (time to most recent common ancestor). Needed are four-generation volunteers and groups of close relatives who all have tested to 67 markers. If anyone is interested in participating, please let me know. The goal is to build a better model taking into account variable mutation rates, asymmetry, multiple steps, and allele-specifity. We were reminded that the present method of estimating TMRCA is highly useful for unknown single events, but is much less so where a pedigree is known from traditional genealogy. In other words, just because a TMRCA estimate suggests a difference of many generations, we should always consider the paper trail as equally important. We should not apply the probabilities to known events.

Ysearch will be redesigned this year. (Everyone should automatically upload his results from his personal page every time he receives any new test results.) For now, you can add any advanced marker results in the Comments field.

Miscellaneous: Some of you have asked what the DYS numbers mean in your test results. They are meaningless for all practical purposes and represent the order in which a particular marker was discovered. Similarly, the names of Sub Haplogroups are formed from the first letter of the laboratory that discovered the SNP and the sequential number of the discovery within that lab.

Another question that arises sometimes is, What is the difference between a SNP and a STR. The STR (Short Tandem Repeat) is equivalent to DYS numbers (DNA Y-chromosome Segment), the markers we all know and love; a SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) refers to the entities tested to refine haplogroup placement. (Aren’t you glad you asked? GRIN)

If I think of anything else, I’ll write again. Questions are always welcome. Write anytime!

Best regards,
Doris
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dorisw (personal website)
www.ftdna.com/public/palatine
www.ftdna.com/public/palatine-mtDNA
www.ftdna.com/public/southworth-southard
www.ftdna.com/public/worden

A Very Basic Introduction to DNA Testing

2009-07-15T10:11:00.000-04:00

Why has genetic genealogy become the hottest tool in the genealogist’s toolbag?

DNA testing does not substitute for traditional genealogy; it supplements it. The object of testing is to find matches that will help you further your own genealogy.

Y-DNA testing, which is available only to men (because only they have a Y-chromosome), allows you to trace a man’s paternal line -- father to his father to his father, etc. Usually that line comes down to you via the same surname, or a spelling variation thereof. If you find a solid match to a man who has the same surname, then there is a 99% chance that you share a common ancestor with that man, and you want to get in touch to share pedigrees and try to determine who that ancestor was. Hopefully, the other person has taken his genealogy back further than you have so that you can piggyback on his work.

If there is no match within the surname group, there can be several reasons:

1. No one with matching DNA has tested yet.
2. Your line has literally died out, meaning there are no male survivors.
3. One or more of you having the same surname has a lineage break, sometimes called a nonpaternal event. This can arise because of adoption, choice, marital infidelity, or a host of other reasons, including faulty genealogical research. The nonpaternal event could have occurred many generations ago or very recently.

Once you have found matches to your surname – say, three men match at 35 of 37 markers, you can begin to sort them into sublineages. For example, the three men in our example may each descend from a different brother who arrived in America many generations ago. This is where mutations come into play. When a mutation (a small change to the actual DNA) occurs in one person, it is carried by all that person’s descendants and so serves as a defining marker. It shows up as a different value in one person’s haplotype. You will want to test several distantly related cousins to establish each one’s lineage.

mtDNA testing is available to both men and women and traces the maternal line – mother to her mother to her mother, etc. The genealogical value of mtDNA testing is not as strong as Y-DNA because mtDNA mutates very slowly. Advanced mtDNA testing can be very useful, however.

For more information, please visit http://The Genetic Genealogist and download the extremely useful ebook, "I Have The Results of My Genetic Genealogy Test, Now What?"

Will genetic genealogy lose its place?

2009-07-08T15:22:00.000-04:00

A small but vocal group of scientists and legislators are clamoring for government regulation of DNA testing. A few states have already succumbed to this hysteria, and Washington has dipped its toe into the murky waters.

What does this mean to family genealogists like us? It could mean that we would have to have our family doctor submit an order for us to obtain a simple Y-DNA test. And the results would go to him or her. (Could there be a touch of self-interest on the part of the scientific and medical community?) As genealogists, how many of us would be willing to involve our personal doctor in our genealogy quest – and pay for the privilege? What does our family doctor know about genealogy, and does he care? Is he really the best qualified person to interpret results for us? Did you ever think you would have to get your family doctor to approve before you could do genealogy? It all sounds rather silly to me.

One argument in favor of such regulation is that people do not understand what they are getting when they buy a test. But isn’t this true of many things? Isn’t it up to the consumer to research and understand what he is buying? Another is that there are claims being made by some companies that promise far more than they can deliver. But this is a fact of life. It is up to the consumer to evaluate these claims.

I am proud to know that Family Tree DNA (the company I have chosen for all my DNA Projects (see links in the sidebar) is the acknowledged leader in the business of genetic genealogical testing and, in fact, was awarded the Better Business Bureau’s Award for Excellence in customer service. Its website has been designated as the "Best Cutting Edge Web Site" by Family Tree Magazine. Even more important is the fact that Family Tree DNA (and ISOGG, the International Society for Genetic Genealogy) provides references to an extensive library of books, videos and scientific journals for its customers’ edification. It has knowledgeable people on staff (as well as a full complement of scientists) who can and do answer questions in a timely manner. It is deeply involved in scientific research to find new SNPs and STRs that offer new avenues to pursue for those who are interested in both anthropology and genealogy and in getting as much as possible out of their testing experience. (SNPs are the portions of DNA that reflect deep ancestry – thousands of years ago. STRs are the markers used for genealogical purposes.)

Another service provided by FTDNA is its support for “projects.” All project members benefit from that support by having access to significantly reduced prices and special promotions that are only available through projects. Additionally, volunteer project administrators like me are provided with ongoing education so that we can better serve our clients. We seek to educate and to help explain test results so that our clients do understand what they are buying and why, and what the results mean.

While the line between genetic genealogy and genome testing for health reasons is quite sharp, the naysayers are beginning to disregard that line and lump all genetic testing together. That is a sad day for genealogists who are just now beginning to reap the solid rewards of having databases that are large enough to provide answers to sticky questions. Ever larger databases of test results help all of us learn more about our family history and answer the age-old question, “Where do we come from?”. Any disruption of the flow of new testees is a disservice to those who have already tested and to the cause of genealogy for everyone. The jury is still out regarding the viability of genetic testing for disease. Obviously, again, the size of the database is critical and our knowledge will grow only as the database grows. And, in addition to all the reasons given above, there is the simple matter of personal choice that is taken away by increased regulation.

Since the key is an educated public, here are two websites that are highly recommended: www.isogg.org and www.thegeneticgenealogist.com.

About my genealogy

2009-07-08T15:21:00.001-04:00

Our Dutch, English and German ancestors settled in New England and New York in the 17th and 18th centuries.

My role as family genealogist has led me to a new love for history and an appreciation for the courage of our ancestors. We are their legacy. I hope you will find items of interest as you explore my blog and all the links I have supplied.

Genetic genealogy works hand in hand with traditional genealogy. I am using it to confirm and/or disprove existing paper trails and uncovering exciting family links as a result.

I hope you will share with me any discoveries you may make through the work I have done. I love to hear your success stories!

Contact me anytime with questions, comments, suggestions, etc.

Doris

Genealogy and DNA

Family History Month - October

Good news from FTDNA....

Important New Developments

Proposed Government Regulation

Understanding your DNA Test Results

So You're Ready to Test Your DNA?

Summer sale on DNA Extended

FDA and DNA testing

A Biologist's Mother's Day Song

Suggested Reading

FTDNA's New "Family Finder"

FTDNA's new "Family Finder

Important announcement from Family Tree DNA

So You're Ready to Test Your DNA?

23andMe Relative Finder Update

Exciting News for Genealogists

ISOGG and NIST

Direct to Consumer Testing Issues

About Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing

Palatine DNA Project Update

Family Tree DNA Newsletter

Palatine DNA Project Update May 6, 2009

DNA Project Update July 14, 2009

DNA Project Update March 19, 2009

A Very Basic Introduction to DNA Testing

Will genetic genealogy lose its place?

About my genealogy