Do you have Y DNA results at Family Tree DNA? Download them now.

A recent message at FTDNA:
Important Message From Family Tree DNA!
We are planning an upgrade of all Y-DNA STR (short tandem repeat) related functions. The upgrade will include changes to how STR micro-alleles and palindromic STRs are displayed. It will also change the matching algorithm to utilize an improved calculation for micro-allele and palindromic STR mutations. The result will be more accurate matches and time to a common ancestor calculations. We will provide additional information before the changes are implemented.
For your convenience, we suggest that you download your Y-DNA Results and Y-DNA matches for historical purposes.

A Biologist's Mother's Day Song

What DNA tests to take?

Recently a friend asked me, "What DNA tests should he or his brother take?"

Here is my reply.

• 1) Has he taken any DNA tests already?
• 2) Is he interested in health trends?
• 3) Is he only interested in finding ancestors on his Y DNA (father's) or mtDNA (mother's) lines?
• 4) Is he interested in finding ancestors on all of his lines? Can he or you fill out most of this form?:

http://www.misbach.org/pdfcharts/pedigree_chart.pdf

If he/you can fill that out he/you should take one or both of the autosomal tests (chromosomes 1-22 and the X chromosome), Relative Finder or Family Finder.

If I were starting out now and had a budget of $1000.00

• 1) I'd take the 37 marker Y DNA test at http://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=gould for $149.00 and shipping.
• 2) Then I would get the Complete Edition autosomal test at https://www.23andme.com/store/ for $499.00. Doing this means he will get the Ancestry and Health Editions, will be compared in the Relative Finder autosomal database, his X chromosome matches will be found and he gets to download his test data. His Y DNA haplogroup will be confirmed and his mtDNA haplogroup will be determined.
• 3) That data can then be transferred to http://www.ftdna.com for comparison to their Family Finder autosomal database for $40.00.
• 4) If he then wants to get full access to Family Finder the upgrade cost will be $249.00. At this time Family Finder tests chromosomes 1-22 and give matches, and it tests the X chromosme but does not match it to others in their database. You do get to download all your test data and can have it analyzed by other programs. FTDNA removes the data from about 3000 disease informative SNPs.

Total cost, $949.00 plus shipping. The tests can be taken in stages if cost is a problem.

This why I recommended the 23andme test for $99.00. It was a fantastic deal and cut $400.00 off the total cost.

Because you are not twins, if you and your brother took the tests you would probably not match all the same people since each conception shuffles the chromosomes.

That chart above is important. The more people he knows there the greater is the chance to confirm relationships with the DNA testing.

He needs the Y DNA 37 marker test so he gets his Y DNA haplotype to match against others in the surname project and the FTDNA database so you can confirm the line you belong to.

I no longer recommend taking the mtDNA tests at FTDNA unless you are trying to determine if certain females are mother and daughter or maternal sisters or that a male and a female had the same mother.

I have taken all of these tests. They are best for confirming relationships from 1st through 5th cousins, although I have confirmed a 10th cousin once removed through 23andme.

DNA Day Special at 23andMe: $99.00

TODAY ONLY!

In honor of DNA day, 23andMe is selling the Complete Edition test for $99.00. This will give you their Ancestry and Health Editions with your genomic data files. Usually this costs $499.00.

If you are at all interested in either your genetic ancestry or your health data, I urge you to take advantage of this deal.

As a genetic genealogist I have tested with 23andMe to get access to the Relative Finder database of people who match my autosomal markers. With the downloaded files you will be able to transfer those to Family Tree DNA to get a preliminary reading from their Family Finder autosomal service. I have added a number of people to my genealogical data through these services.

Special price on 23andme Ancestry or Complete Edition autosomal DNA test

Mar 9, 2010
The Oprah Winfrey Show and a special promotion
We wanted to share some exciting news and alert you to a special promotion starting today.

Airing this afternoon, The Oprah Winfrey Show will feature celebrities discovering their family roots. The show will feature a segment about the PBS documentary, Faces of America, by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. As you may know, Faces of America used 23andMe’s Ancestry Edition to test the DNA of the guests featured in the series.

To promote the Faces of America segment on Oprah.com, 23andMe is offering viewers of The Oprah Winfrey Show our Ancestry Edition for only $199.00 until 3/31/10.

As members of our valued community, we wanted to make sure you heard about this special promotion. If you know people that may want to take advantage of this significant discount, please direct them to the Faces of America page on our website to order the Ancestry Edition at this special price (this is the only place on the site with this discount, so you need to order from this page). There is no set limit on the number of kits that can be ordered for , but you'll want to act quickly since the offer expires on 3/31/10.

So check out the Oprah show and feel free to spread the word about this special offer!

23andme has said you can get the discount on the Complete Edition by selecting both in your cart, then removing the Ancestry Edition leaving the Complete Edition at a discount.

Oprah.com article on Ancestry:
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Dr-Henry-Louis-Gates-Jr-Start-Your-Ancestry-Search

23andMe Faces of America promotion:
https://www.23andme.com/partner/foa/

Faces of America on PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/

An explanation of Autosomal DNA

Here is a video from Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation that explains autosomal DNA.

Family Finder, Relative Finder, deCODEme, SMGF

In my capacity of running 9 DNA studies and advising people on testing, I have been looking at the information on Family Finder from FTDNA in comparison to 23andMe's Relative Finder Ancestry Edition.

Family Finder is only looking at the non-sex chromosomes and it does not include mtDNA testing. If we include the minimal testing of Y dna and/or mtDNA at the Genographic Project (to get the lowest price) a female would undercut the price of the 23andMe Relative Finder Ancestry Edition test, but would still not have the X chromosome tested, and a male would pay more than Relative Finder Ancestry Edition and still not have the X chromsome tested.

My ancestry is mainly Colonial American from the British Isles with some French, German, and Norwegian. My experience with Relative Finder is that of the 30,000 plus people in the project, I have matches with 307. I have sent out 106 sharing requests with 5 declines, 69 contacts accepted, and 32 contacts with sharing. Of the 32 sharing I have found the common ancestor for 6 of them. 3 of them share on the X chromosome. Hopefully as the database grows I'll have more matches and shares.

I think the companies should require a 5 or 6 generation pedigree chart from the people testing which would be shared with their matches. I think that would really help with the process of finding common ancestors.

This also brings up the question of what happened to the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation's plans to release an autosomal database which would be linked to the pedigrees they collected. Does anyone have any information from SMGF?

While I am getting the Family Finder testing, and have done the 23andme complete edition, exchanged with deCODEme, and the SMGF testing, I am somewhat disappointed in the results so far, and will have to really see some improvements before I can recommend these tests to any but the most dedicated genetic genealogists.

FTDNA announces Family Finder

FTDNA will be starting an autosomal test called Family Finder in mid-March. Some details are available at this link: http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/family-finder.aspx Pricing information is not currently available nor do we know if new samples will be required. Pricing has been announced as $249.00 and new samples will be needed if you do not have an unused sample on file.

At this time the only other comparable product is Relative Finder from 23andme: http://spittoon.23andme.com/2009/11/19/introducing-relative-finder-the-newest-feature-from-23andme/

New NBC series "Who do you think you are?" premieres in April

NBC is set to premiere the new reality TV series, Who Do You Think You Are? on April 20, 2009. Former Friends star, Lisa Kudrow is the executive producer of the series. The first celebrities exploring their family histories on the U.S.reality TV show are; Lisa Kudrow, Sarah Jessica Parker and Susan Sarandon, NBC revealed on Tuesday. Additional celebrity names are expected to be announced soon.

Who Do You Think You Are? is produced by Wall to Wall productions in association with Is Or Isn’t Entertainment. Alex Graham and Lucy Carter from Wall to Wall and Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky and Don Roos from Is or Isn’t Entertainment are the executive producers. Bryn Freedman, the producer of Intervention is the co-executive producer of this historical series. The new show is based on the hit, award-winning BBC television documentary series created and executive-produced by Alex Graham.

Continued at http://realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/blog/2009/01/30/new-nbc-series-who-do-you-think-you-are-premieres-in-april/

Faces of America

Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. airs on Wednesdays, February 10 – March 3, 2010 from 8-9 p.m. ET on PBS.

Eva Longoria, Meryl Streep, Mario Batali, Stephen Colbert, Malcolm Gladwell, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols, Kristi Yamaguchi, Elizabeth Alexander, Queen Noor and Louise Erdrich have all submitted DNA tests for a new PBS television series FACES OF AMERICA.