National Geographic Explorer: How to build an Ancient Man

CeCe Moore, at Your Genetic Genealogist, has a post on the recent National Geographic Explorer program on the reconstruction of the genetics of a Saqqaq male from Greenland, "How to Build an Ancient Man" This is a followup to the scientific article abstracted here: Gilbert et al., "Paleo-Eskimo mtDNA Genome Reveals Matrilineal Discontinuity in Greenland", Science 27 June 2008: 1787-1789. DOI:10.1126/science.1159750 . The article implies multiple entries into the Americas from Asia.

See the facial reconstruction of Inuq an ancient Saqqaq male from Greenland.

X Chromosome matches from 23andme

This chart is of my X Chromosome matches from Relative Finder and Ancestry Finder at 23andMe. The length of the line corresponds to the length of the match on the X chromosome. Because I am a male, I got one X chromosome from my mother.  She got an amalgam of the X chromosomes from her father and mother. I can only verify my relationship to three of the people on this chart.

SKD is my multiple 1st cousin and the relationship is through our mothers, who were sisters.  My 1st cousin and I share 6 of 8 great grandparents. We match at two locations on the X: 1-12, and 91-140.

LB and CF are 3rd cousins 1 remove and 2 removes, a mother and daughter. My 1st cousin and I share 4 of 16 GGreat grandparents with them, Swain, Ball, Kidd, and Stephens.  However, my 1st cousin does not match them or me at these locations on the X chromosome, but does match them on other chromosomes as I also do.

With HP, the link may be through the Hays/Hayes family of Overton and Fentress Co., Tennessee. HPs X line is from the same area. The mother of Maliza Stephens was Susan Hayes, and she and her husband, Zorababel Stephens, lived in Overton/Fentress Co., TN. This would subsume the links to LB and CF.

With three others, GA, JO, and CO, a mother and two of her sons, the relationship is unknown. My 1st cousin does share this match with them. We thought the relationship was on the Strunk/Strunck line, but that is not a direct line for them.

It is important to remember that a different cutoff is used for calling a match on the X chromosome between males, a male and a female, and between females:

Males: 200 SNPs, 1cM;
Male to Female: 600 SNPs, 6cM;
Female to Female: 1200 SNPs, 6cM.

This probably explains some match I have with females which do not show as a match for my female 1st cousin.

I am hoping to get some more 1st cousin matches to help to isolate matches to particular lines.

Here is a link to my pedigree charts:
Steven C Perkins 13 Generation Pedigree Charts 

FTDNA 7th Genetic Genealogy Conference

Family Tree DNA's 7th Genetic Genealogy Conference

The 7th Genetic Genealogy Conference for Family Tree DNA Group Administrators November 5-6, 2011
To be held at the Sheraton North Houston 15700 John F. Kennedy Boulevard Houston, TX 77032 (281) 442-5100
Book a Room at the Sheraton North Houston at a Discount
*The Sheraton website has a known issue with the Chrome browser. To visit their site please try another browser.

Featured Speakers

• Doron Behar, PhD
• Michael Hammer, PhD
• Steve Morse, author of the website "One Step Pages"
• Spencer Wells, PhD

X chromosome inheritance at 23andMe through Relative Finder and Ancestry Finder

The link above goes to a page that has charts for determining which ancestors contributed to your X chromosome. For a male, only his mother contributes an X chromosome. For a female both her mother and her father contribute X chromosomes. Parts of those chromosomes will be inactivated but the X can still be used for genealogical purposes.

I have 24 people who match me on the X chromosome at 23andMe through Relative Finder and Ancestry Finder. Neither FTDNA nor SMGF have published their X chromosome databases. GEDMATCH allows FTDNA customers to match their X chromosomes to other GEDMATCH participants. I haven't heard of anyone else having as many matches, but I am sure there must be someone who does. At this time I can only confirm three of the matches with one 1st cousin and with a 3rd cousin once removed and her daughter. I share a surname in the 1600s in Germany with a mother and her two sons. But since that surname is not contributing to the X chromosome before 1830, the assumption is that there is a closer link than that surname.

There are 5 and 6 generation charts for both males and females on the page. Below are the people, with their ancestor chart number, who would be on my 6 Generation Chart on the linked page with the percentage of X chromosome contribution expected from each.

1, myself
-------------
2 Denval Perkins 0%
3 Mary Ruth Ball 100%
------------
6 George Matt Ball 50%
7 Rosa Genetta Swain 50%
------------
12 Peter Coleman Ball 0%
13 Frances Strunk 50%
14 Thomas J Swain 25%
15 Elizabeth Kidd 25%
------------
26 Manoah Strunk 25%
27 Susana Cortina Davis 25%
28 Jesse D. Swain 0%
29 Elizabeth Ball 25%
30 John Kidd 12.5%
31 Maliza Stephens 12.5%
-------------
52 Abraham Strunk 0%
53 Abigail Pennington 25%
54 John Davis 12.5%
55 Frances Creekmore 12.5%
58 William Ball 12.5%
59 Charlotte May 12.5%
60 Elias Kidd 0%
61 Margaret Bagley 12.5%
62 Zorababel Stephens 6.25%
63 Susan Hayes 6.25%

Percentages are averages and usually can range from 0-100.

Having this chart filled out based on your sex can assist in identifying your X chromosome matches.

23andMe DNA test discount certificate: $50.00 off until 9 August 2011

To use this coupon, visit our online store and add an order to your cart. Click "I have a discount code" and enter the code below.
$50 Off

Coupon code: YG7XDH

Share with your friends!

(Valid for new customers only)

This works with either the $99 plus 12 months at $9 subscription, or with the $399 service without a subscription.

Comparison of 23andme Relative Finder, Ancestry Finder and FTDNA Family Finder results

I'll repeat a post I made at 23andme on comparing success rates at both:

======================================

Colonial American ancestry: Jamestown, Boston, Cambridge, Hartford, New Haven Colony, New Amsterdam, New Sweden, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Then spread out to North Carolina, South Carolina, both pre-Rev War; then Tennessee and Kentucky, post-Rev War.

• at 23andme I have 1050 RF matches and have confirmed 7 of those.
• at FTDNA I have 175 FF matches and have confirmed 10 of those.
• Two of my confirmed matches have tested both 23andme RF and FTDNA FF.
• I have 20 separate X Chromosome matches in RF and AF. That counts repeated people only once.
• I have no immediate matches at FTDNA. I have 54 close matches and 121 speculative matches. My closest confirmed matches are two 4th cousins.
• I have two known 1st cousins at 23andme and two unresponsive 2nd cousins. My closest confirmed match at 23andme is with a 3rd cousin once removed and her daughter.

=======================

If you haven't done any tests I recommend starting at 23andme and then, when FTDNA opens the program, transferring your results to FTDNA. That way you get genealogical matches from both companies, you get mtDNA haplogroup and if a male, Y DNA haplogroup, and X chromosome matches at 23andme plus health info.

At FTDNA you get genealogy matches and when they get it ready, X chromosome matches. You have to pay separately for the Y DNA haplotype and haplogroup and the same for mtDNA. So from a cost perspective it is lower cost to start at 23andme and transfer to FTDNA UNLESS you also want detailed Y DNA /mtDNA readings.

Roots Into the Future: New Project at 23andMe for African American, Black, and African research

Roots Into the Future:

10,000 FREE DNA Test kits for persons of Sub-Saharan African Ancestry

A recent article in Wired Magazine highlighted how the genome revolution has been skipping most people in the world: 96% of participants in recent genomic studies trace most of their ancestry to Europe. Why? Statistical analysis is simpler in groups tracing ancestry to just one continental region so fewer individuals are needed to make discoveries. Although African Americans typically trace about 20% of their ancestry to Europe, studies to verify previous findings in this population have not been done for many diseases. Our understanding of how DNA influences disease risk in people with mostly non-European ancestry has a lot of catching up to do.
23andMe hopes to bridge this growing divide through Roots into the Future, a research initiative addressing the needs of the African American community. Our partners in the research initiative include Dr. Henry Louis Gates and the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard, as well as advisors from academia, industry and the 23andMe community. Our goal is to enroll 10,000 participants who self-identify as African American, Black, or African in order to rapidly accelerate genetic research in the African American community.

Continues at http://spittoon.23andme.com/2011/07/26/roots-into-the-future/

See the Roots Into the Future website: https://www.23andme.com/roots/

23andColm: Some analysis you can do with your 23andMe result file

Colm O'Dushlaine, a genetics researcher, has been documenting his use of various tools to analyze his 23andme results. See this web site: https://sites.google.com/a/codushlaine.com/colm-o-dushlaine/23andcolm

The entry for Day 11 has a link to his EthnoAncestry Total Genomic Ancestry Classification report for those wondering what one looks like.

You can do the same analysis he is doing if you have access to UNIX/LINUX or can find a variant of the programs used for your operating system.

Update on 23andMe and FTDNA DNA matches

Today I have 160 matches at FTDNA in the Family Finder autosomal DNA database.

I have 998 matches in the 23andMe Relative Finder autosomal DNA database and around 700 unique matches in the Ancestry Finder database. 23andMe includes X chromosome matches which are not yet posted by FTDNA.

While I have more matches in the 23andme database, I have made more identifications of the ancestral couple in the FTDNA database. Testing with both companies remains the optimum strategy for finding genealogical connections.

Even though I have 10 surname projects at FTDNA, for autosomal and X chromosome DNA testing I recommend using 23andme first, and when they make it available, transferring your genome results to FTDNA to get matches against their database. This will cost the least for people in the USA.

The only other company I currently recommend is the Sorensen Molecular Genealogy Foundation, http://smgf.org/ They test Y DNA, mtDNA, autosomal DNA and X chromosome DNA. You can get tested for no cost if you meet their research requirements and submit a pedigree chart. However, there is no guarantee they will post your results on their system. They have made the Y DNA and mtDNA databases freely accessible on their website. It is anticipated they will do the same for autosomal and X chromosome DNA. They also sell access through GeneTree, http://www.genetree.com/ People who do not qualify for free DNA testing at SMGF, can pay for testing at GeneTree.

At this time, I am using DNA testing to verify my documented genealogy. I think it can be a very good check against one's paper genealogy.

FTDNA Summer DNA tests Sale

You must already be a customer of FTDNA to get these UPGRADE prices!

Family Tree DNA

Dear Project Administrator,

Since last summer's upgrade sale was such huge success, we thought we'd repeat history! Project Administrators like you played a very important role in last year's success by broadcasting the sale to project members. As your project members upgrade, the resolution of results and comparisons we provide greatly improves. So, please spread the word and we'll make this year's upgrade sale even bigger!

From June 15, 2011 through June 22, 2011, we will reduce the following prices.

         Summer Upgrade Sale
Family Finder  Was $289  Now $199
Y-DNA 12 to 25  Was $49  Now $35
Y-DNA 12 to 37  Was $99  Now $69
Y-DNA 12 to 67  Was $189  Now $148
Y-DNA 25 to 37  Was $49  Now $35
Y-DNA 25 to 67  Was $148  Now $114
Y-DNA 37 to 67  Was $99  Now $79
mt to FMS  Was $269  Now $229
mtPlus to FMS  Was $239  Now $199

To order an upgrade at these special prices your members can log into their personal pages with their kit number and password. Click on the "Special Offers" link found on the left-hand navigation bar. ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY MIDNIGHT, JUNE 22, 2011, TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICE.

Family Tree DNA
© 2011 Genealogy by Genetics.