DNA for Newbies

Salon Article About the “Stanford’s Genetics 210” Class Using 23andMe Testing

Blaine Bettinger 3 Comments

Discover yourself at 23andMeAt Salon, an article entitled “The college class that could reveal your real father” by Katya Cengel discusses a course at Stanford called “Genetics 210.”  The class uses [entirely optional] 23andme testing to explore the many issues associated with genetic testing.  Although the class is offered to both graduate and undergraduate students, the class is filled with mostly graduate students.

All students go through the informed consent process carefully, and have access to a genetic counselor and a psychiatrist (although according to the report not a single student has contacted the psychiatrist in the four semesters the course has been offered, and only two have contacted the genetic counselor).

The most interesting aspect of the article, to me, was the complication that identical twins pose to genetic testing.  Epigenetic differences aside (which are currently NOT tested), a genetic test for one will directly apply to the other.  So what happens when one twin wants to know and the other doesn’t? ... Click to read more!

Problems with AncestryDNA’s Genetic Ethnicity Prediction?

Blaine Bettinger 201 Comments

I’ve received a number of emails and comments (see, e.g., here) complaining about Ancestry.com’s new test, AncestryDNA.  Specifically, several test-takers believe that the Genetic Ethnicity Prediction provided by Ancestry.com does not reflect the numbers that they expected based on their own research.

For example:

“I just got my DNA test results back from Ancestry.com and I am concerned. I was born in England and I have gone back many generations and have found that all my ancestors as far back as the 1600′s in most cases are English.  According to the results I have no British Isles DNA. It states that I have 60% Central Europe, 30% Scandinavian and 7% Southern Europe. I also have 3% unknown. How can this be?”

“Just received my results: 21% Southern European and 79% Central European which doesn’t follow years of work on my family history.” ... Click to read more!

MyHeritage and Family Tree DNA Partner to Offer DNA Testing

Blaine Bettinger 1 Comment

As I’ve stated many, many times in the past, the future of genetic genealogy is combining test results with both family trees and paper records.

Today, MyHeritage and Family Tree DNA announced a partnership that will bring that future one step closer to reality.  MyHeritage will offer a full line of tests (13 in total) through FTDNA, including these basic introductory tests (with discounts – not shown below – for MyHeritage subscribers):

  • Y-DNA12 (12 Y-STR markers) – $99
  • mtDNA (HVR1 region) – $99
  • Family Finder (autosomal test) – $298

The FAQ page for the tests is here (and I note that although they currently do not allow import of test results from other providers, they plan to in the future).  I wonder if existing FTDNA test-takers can import their results?

Given MyHeritage’s worldwide reach and enormous membership (62 million members around the world!), it will be interesting to see whether this new partnership expands genetic genealogy testing in other parts of the world, which have been slow to try this technology. ... Click to read more!

A Review of Family Tree DNA’s Family Finder – Part II

Blaine Bettinger 8 Comments

Last week I wrote about the results of my Family Finder autosomal DNA test by Family Tree DNA (see “A Review of Family Tree DNA’s Family Finder – Part I“).  The Family Finder test uses a whole-genome SNP scan to find stretches of DNA shared by two individuals, thus identifying your genetic cousins (and will soon include the Population Finder analysis of admixture percentages).  I currently have over 33 genetic cousins in Family Finder, and I’m working with them to identify our common ancestor(s).

The Affymetrix microarray chip used by FTDNA includes over 500,000 pairs of SNPs located on the X chromosome and the autosomes (no Y chromosome SNPs).  Via SNPedia:

FamilyTreeDNA uses an Affymetrix Axiom CEU microarray chip with 3,269 SNPs removed (563,800 SNPs reported) for autosomal and X (but not Y or mitochondrial) ancestry testing for $289. Other sources have cited 548011 snps. This platform tests 1871 of the 12442 snps in SNPedia. ... Click to read more!

American Society of Human Genetics Publishes Updated Genetic Ancestry Testing Statement

Blaine Bettinger 11 Comments

Today at noon, the American Society of Human Genetics lifted an embargo on “Inferring Genetic Ancestry: Opportunities, Challenges, and Implications (pdf),” which will be published in the May 14th issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

This paper is a follow-up to a 2008 paper called the “ASHG Ancestry Testing Statement and Recommendations” in which a committee from the ASHG addressed concerns about the claims made by genetic ancestry testing companies.  I wrote an article here on the blog at the time – The ASHG Ancestry Testing Statement and Recommendations – that highlighted a number of concerns I had about the statement and the recommendations.

When I wrote the November 13, 2008 blog post, I began by pointing out my personal positions, which have largely remained unchanged in the intervening 1.5 years: ... Click to read more!

Personal Genomics and Genetic Genealogy Tidbits

Blaine Bettinger 3 Comments

  • Daniel MacArthur at Genetic Future writes “Willful ignorance is not an effective argument against personal genomics,” which is a criticism of an embarrassingly bad op-ed by Camilla Long in the Times (U.K.) entitled “When DNA means do not ask.”  In the article Long mentions several types of genetic testing including “superficial services such as ancestry tests.”  A truly uneducated statement, considering that ancestry tests are among the informative of all genetic tests!
    • ... Click to read more!

    Faces of America and Genetic Genealogy Testing

    Blaine Bettinger 6 Comments

    Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings (“I’m Puzzled by DNA Claims on ‘Faces of America’”) writes about the fourth and last episode of “Faces of America,” a PBS documentary series investigating the ancestry of several famous people in America. This fourth episode included several different types of genetic genealogy to examine the ancestral origins and relatedness of the show’s members.

    1. Whole Genome Sequencing by Knome

    The first type of genetic genealogy was whole-genome sequencing by Knome of Henry Louis Gates and his father. This analysis examined Henry’s (“Skip’s”) genome for medical conditions and physical traits, and also compared his DNA to his father’s, thereby allowing them to deduce the entire DNA contribution from his deceased mother. This segment was actually quite moving, as Dr. Gates was able to establish this intimate connection to the mother that he and his father obviously missed very much. ... Click to read more!

    A Review of Familybuilder DNA Testing

    Blaine Bettinger 2 Comments

    familybuilder1

    Familybuilder, launched in 2007, is a genealogy company that ranks among the top 10 online genealogy services in the world with over 17 million users and over 120 million family tree profiles.  Late last year the company began offering a genetic genealogy product, as I wrote about here on the blog (see “Familybuilder Announces DNA Testing”).

    Disclosure: This is a review of Familybuilder’s Y-DNA service using a kit I received free of charge for purposes of this review.  Please note that this is not meant to be an endorsement but merely a review of the Y-DNA service offered by Familybuilder.

    The results of a Familybuilder Y-DNA test includes:

    “The Migration Map for you and your ancestors, your 17 Markers, your Haplogroup and the History of your DNA.  In addition, the ability to share your results with family and friends on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace as well as a downloadable PDF (suitable for framing).” ... Click to read more!

    Q&A: Everyone Has Two Family Trees – A Genealogical Tree and a Genetic Tree

    Blaine Bettinger 17 Comments

    I recently received an interesting question from a reader (see this comment) about 23andMe’s Relative Finder, and thought it would be worth sharing the question and my answer with all my readers.

    The Question:

    I’m a man who recently took a 23andMe test, and I have a question about Relative Finder. Another man who I match on 36 of 37 Y-DNA markers via Family Tree DNA also took a 23andMe test. We believe that we are third cousins, but this individual does not show up as related in Relative Finder, nor does he show any similarities in the Family Inheritance section. Does this mean that we are not related at all?

    The Answer

    If two individuals do not share any DNA in the Family Inheritance section of 23andMe or do not appear as relatives in Relative Finder or a people check if you look online (see here), this absolutely does not mean that they are not or cannot be relatives. It does suggest, however, that the two individuals might not share any DNA. Although your Y-DNA test suggests that you share a recent common male ancestor, it appears that apart from your Y chromosomes you do not share any other DNA. ... Click to read more!

    Genetic Genealogy Tidbits

    Blaine Bettinger 3 Comments

  • Linda Avey, co-founder of 23andMe, has started a new blog entitled The Life & Times of Lilly Mendel.  I’m looking forward to some interesting reading as Linda establishes the Brainstorm Research Foundation dedicated to the study of Alzheimer’s disease.
    • ... Click to read more!