Party like it's 1940!!

1940 Census poster, The Newberry Library

Today at 9:00am EDT the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) rolled out the 1940 United States Census to the public --- currently their server has crashed, so try later!

I'm not just blogging about this because I'm a genealogy nerd (though I'm pretty freakin' stoked!!  I feel like I've waited 72 years for this....), but because Census records are a fantastic tool to use to track down information about our bio-fathers and his family.  On many profiles the ages of the donor's parents are listed.  If his parents were born before 1940, they will be in the Census.  And of course, the more detailed the donor profile, the more useful these tools can be!!  My best advice on using the Census is if you have a potential candidate person.  Again, it's not a tool for dry run searching.  Talk to me about what tools are useful before you have a person of interest....(hint, hint --- DNA!)

And of course for much older offspring, those conceived pre-1970, the chances of your biological father being listed in the 1940 Census increases dramatically!!

Strictly using Census records is not going to get you anywhere, but in combination with other print and electronic records and trails, they are a fantastic tool to help you piece together your own story.

So go take that Family Finder Test!!!!  GO!!!  NOW!!!

Holiday Sale from FTDNA!!

Exciting news just announced from Family Tree DNA....they have begun a large scale holiday promotion with their most popular tests on sale for both new customers and current customers (to upgrade).

The sale, unlike all their other sales which are only available for a VERY limited time, is open until the end of the year!  The Family Finder test, the best option for any donor conceived person or former donor, is on sale for $199USD!  This is almost $100 off the regular price.

So, put FTDNA's Family Finder test on your wish list!!

As always, email me if you have any questions or concerns about these tests.

And remember to join the Donor Conceived DNA Project through FTDNA once you've ordered your test!!

New Kits

	Current Group Price	SALE PRICE
Y-DNA 37	$149	$119
Y-DNA 67	$239	$199
mtFullSequence	$299	$239
SuperDNA (Y-DNA67 and FMS)	$518	$438
Family Finder	$289	$199
Family Finder + mtPlus	$438	$318
Family Finder + FMS	$559	$439
Family Finder+ Y-DNA37	$438	$318
Comprehensive (FF + FMS + Y-67)	$797	$627
Upgrades
12-25 Marker	$49	$35
12-37 Marker	$99	$69
12-67 Marker	$189	$148
25-37 Marker	$49	$35
25-67 Marker	$148	$114
37-67 Marker	$99	$79
Family Finder	$289	$199
mtHVR1toMega	$269	$229
mtHVR2toMega	$239	$209

ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY MIDNIGHT DECEMBER 31st 2011 TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICES. THIS PROMOTION IS NOT VALID IN CONJUNCTION WITH ANY OTHER PROMOTIONS OR COUPONS.

AT THIS TIME, WE WILL NOT BE OFFERING DISCOUNTS FOR THE Y-DNA111, NEW KITS OR UPGRADES. THOSE MAY BE OFFERED AT A LATER TIME PENDING THE LAB VOLUMES WITH THE TESTS UNDER PROMOTION.

The DNA numbers game

A recent discussion on PCVAI was about shared DNA, and how much is significant and what all those numbers actually mean.  I've also come across several discussions on various DNA message boards with similar questions and confusions.  So I figured I would reiterate some things here.  Some of this is my own meanderings.  Some of this is credited to various members of different forums and listservs.

FTDNA versus 23andMe: Shared DNA

A. FTDNA's Family Finder test providers testers with the amount of shared DNA for EVERY one of their matches no matter how immediate or distant they are.

This shared DNA is broken down into 3 categories.

1) Sum shared DNA
The sum of shared DNA is the total number of cM (centimorgans) you and a match share across your entire autosomal genome.  The total number of cM is approximately 3380cM.  Sum shared DNA is typically used for determining close and immediate relationships.

• A parent-child match will share around 3380cM.  This is slightly misleading because of course a parent and a child only share 50% of their DNA - the other 50% comes from the other parent.  But since this test does not differentiate both pairs of each chromosome, a parent and child will share a SNP at every marker.  This is called a half-match.  
• Identical twins will also share 3380cM according to the FF results, but since they share 100% of their DNA, those 3380cM will be a full-match - that is, both SNPs at each marker will match compared to only a single SNP between a parent and child.  
• Now full-siblings, even though they share 50% of their DNA (same as a parent-child), because each child may have inherited opposite SNPs from each parent at any given marker, full-siblings will generally share less than 3380cM but no less than 2500cM.
• Half-siblings share 25% of their DNA, but like full-siblings it's not going to be exact because the siblings may have inherited opposite SNPs from their shared parent.  But the shared DNA for half-siblings should be around 1690cM, and probably no less than 1000cM.

According to Matt Dexter, on the FTDNA Forum, here is a breakdown of sum shared DNA ranges for various relationships:

• Parent/child: 3539-3748 centimorgans (cMs)  
• 1st cousins: 548-1034 cMs  
• 1st cousins once removed: 248-638 cMs 
• 2nd cousins: 101-378 cMs
• 2nd cousins once removed: 43-191 cMs 
• 3rd cousins: 43-ca 150 cMs
• 3rd cousins once removed: 11.5-99 cMs 
• 4th and more distant cousins: 5-ca 50 cMs

He also provided this great spreadsheet of min and max numbers:

Lastly, it must be noted that usually anything less than 5cM is considered noise.  Between 5-10cM suggested possible recent shared ancestry.  Over 10cM strongly suggests recent shared ancestry.

2) Longest block of DNA
The longest block of DNA is another tool used primarily for determining more distant relationships.

An explanation of the differences between sum and longest block of DNA from Matt Dexter (FTDNA Forum):

The amount shared is less important for a 4th cousin than for a 1st cousin. The amount shared in a first cousin is a large quantity so it can be used to make a prediction. The amount shared in a 4th cousin is a smaller quantity so it is easier for the test to use the longest block to make a prediction from and then use the sum as a kind of secondary, fine tuning adjustment.
Immediate family have longest blocks however they can't be used because they are different sizes per chromosome. In other words a match on chromosome 1 might override a bigger match on chromosome 3 because chromosome 1 is larger in cM. A parent and child will have the longest block on chromosome 1 for just about 145.17cM but the fact is, all the other chromosomes match too so using the longest block is meaningless for parents, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and grandparents for example.

And from Tim Janzen on the Genealogy-DNA listserv (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GENEALOGY-DNA/2011-04/1302395962):

Ranges of the length of shared IBD segments based on family relationship:

• Parent/child: 2851st cousins: 50-141   
• 1st cousins once removed: 36-106 cMs 
• 2nd cousins: 21-64 cMs 
• 2nd cousins once removed: 19-81  
• 3rd cousins: 13-77  
• 3rd cousins once removed: 0-27 
• 4th cousins: 0-22  
• 4th cousins once removed: 0-13 
• 5th cousins: 0-27

3) Number of segments
The number of segments is not very important, as of course large segments take up more space so immediate relatives will share less numbers of segments but longer segments.  The number of segments feature is more useful when looking at more distant relationships, especially where there might only be one significant block of DNA shared.


B. 23andMe's Relative Finder uses shared DNA as well.  However, their results are slightly different from FTDNA.  First off, only those who have set their profile to public will you see their names (I've discussed this previously).  Second, if you have an immediate relative match (parent-child, sibling, grandparent-grandchild, niece/nephew-aunt/uncle, and possibly 1st cousin - I'm not 100% sure on the 1st cousin), those matches will NOT SHOW UP unless that match has signed off to be visible to immediate matches.  Why this is, I have no clue.  But it's something I was informed of recently from other DC adults who have tested with 23andMe.

Shared DNA from 23andMe is listed in percentages.  Which for most people is more understandable, but unclear if you are trying to compare the two companies.  Since percentages for two related individuals are fairly contant, it needs little extra information.

DNA Percentages (http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics)

The following figures show the average amount of autosomal DNA shared with close relatives:

• 50% mother, father and siblings
• 25% grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, half-siblings, double first cousins
• 12.5% first cousins
• 6.25% first cousins once removed
• 3.125% second cousins, first cousins twice removed
• 0.781% third cousins
• 0.195% fourth cousins
• 0.0488% fifth cousins
• 0.0122% sixth cousins
• 0.00305% seventh cousins (ca 92,000 base pairs)
• 0.000763% eighth cousins (ca 23,000 base pairs)

Of course these numbers can fluctuate slightly due to the randomness of inheritance.

Here are ranges of percentages of genome in common from 23andMe:

• Parent/child: 47.54 (for father/son pairs, who do not share the X chromosome) to ~50%
• 1st cousins: 7.31-13.8
• 1st cousins once removed: 3.3-8.51
• 2nd cousins: 2.85-5.04
• 2nd cousins once removed: .57-2.54
• 3rd cousins: ca .3-2.0
• 3rd cousins once removed: .11-1.32
• 4th and more distant cousins: .07-.5

And just for comparison, here's a breakdown of just how much DNA is shared between UNRELATED people:

• Parent-child pairs share between 83.94% and 84.20% of SNPs (50% of DNA in common)
• Siblings share between 83.81% and 87.47% of SNPs (50% of DNA in common)
• Uncle/aunt-niece/nephew pairs share between 78.48% and 79.57% of SNPs (25% of DNA in common)
• Grandparent-grandchild pairs share between 77.96% and 80.59% of SNPs (12.5% of DNA in common)
• First cousins and great uncle/great aunt-grandniece/grandnephew pairs share 75.78% and 77.03% of SNPs (12.5% of DNA in common)
• First cousins once removed share ca 75.5% of SNPs (6.25% of DNA in common)
• Second cousins and first cousins twice removed share ca 75% of SNPs (3.125% of DNA in common)
• Unrelated people of European descent share 73-74.6% of SNPs

Got a cousin match...now what?!

I know I've blogged about this repeatedly this summer, but I'm going to once again sound like a broken record and return to discussing the Family Finder test through Family Tree DNA.  Because I am just that confident in its potential for donor conceived people.

I promised I would do a post on matches a while ago, so here it is!

FTDNA's Family Finder test can identify close and immediate relatives back approximately 5 generations.  That is, a relative that shares a common ancestor with you almost certainly in the past 200 years (versus Y-STR and mtDNA tests whose matches may be a common ancestor from 500+ or even thousands of years ago!!).  Here's a few more points about matches and relatedness:

• It can also identify distant relatives (more than 5 generations back), but these are only speculative and should not be relied upon.  
• Very close and immediate relationships can be confirmed/identified with 99.99% accuracy.  If a half-sibling, your bio father, grandparent, aunt/uncle, or any 1st or 2nd cousins test, you will be matched with them 100% of the time and the suggested relationship will help you to accurately identify how they are related to you.  
• More distant close cousins (3rd) and distant cousins (4th and up) may or may not match with you.  3rd cousins will match with you 90% of the time.  That means if 100 of your 3rd cousins test 90 of them will show up as matches, but 10 of them will not.  This is simply do to random inheritance and 3rd cousins only share 0.78% of their DNA (1/16 gg-grandparents), so not every set of 3rd cousins will have inherited enough of the same bits of DNA from their common ancestor (gg-grandparent) to show up as matches.  4th cousins will only match 50% of the time, and 5th cousins and beyond even less.  So obviously the test has limits, but the chances of finding a 4th or 5th cousin who has any idea how you are related let alone who your bio father is is about as likely as finding a needle in a haystack!!
• As I've mentioned before, if you're Generation X or Y, chances are most of your matches are at least a generation or two older than you, so if the suggested relationship is 3rd cousin it's possible you are actually 2nd cousins once removed...that is instead of both of you sharing a common gg-grandparent, it might be your match's g-grandparent and your gg-grandparent.  This is just something to keep in mind for both you and your matches.  

Once your test is completed, your results will be returned to you and you will be able to access your list of matches...any relative that shares enough DNA with you to be considered a match who has also signed their release form.  All of your matches will list a relationship range as well as the amount of shared DNA.  Close and immediate matches will also list a suggested relationship (that should only be used as a guide to establish where the connection might lie).  For some matches they might have also added surnames known in their family tree and a few might even have their family trees (GEDCOMs) available on FTDNA.

The good news is, even if you do not have many matches when you first get your results, or you do not have any close (3rd cousins or closer) matches, do not fear, as more and more people test you will get more and more matches.  This is definitely a plus of FTDNA, in that there is no subscription so you will receive new matches indefinitely.

Now ideally, matching with a very close or immediate relative is the best - duh.  In this case you will almost certainly be able to identify your bio father (unless it's a DC half-sibling, adoptee, or some other "non-paternal event").  But most likely you're going to get matches in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cousin range.  I'm going to focus from now on on 3rd cousins since these seem to be the most common close matches that appear.  From here on out I'm also going to assume that these are paternal cousins and not maternal.  I've discussed this in the past, and still strongly suggest to have a maternal relative (sibling with a different donor, mother, aunt/uncle, grandparent) tested to help separate maternal and paternal matches.


Hypothetical situation: So you have a bunch of matches and hypothetically your top 3 matches all have a relationship range of 2nd-4th cousin with a suggested relationship of 3rd cousin.  What do you do now?  

1. The first thing you should do is look if they have surnames listed.  Are there any names in common?  If so this might show that these two (or however many) may be related to you on the same line/branch.

2. Go to the Chromosome Browser (link in left column under Illumina OmniExpress) and check off all 3 of these top matches.  Set the threshold to 5+cM.  Where are the shared segments of DNA between you and these 3 matches?  Are there any areas that have overlapping segments?  If so, this is another avenue to determine if these matches are all on the same line/branch.  Also play around with all 3 of these matches and see if there are any of these matches that have overlapping segments with any of your matches.  The main reason for this is to help your matches to narrow down how you might be related to them, if there are common matches between you.

NOTE: You may or may not have received any emails from your matches.

3. Now is the time, if you have not been contacted yet by matches, to go forward with initiating contact.  You will have your matches names and email addresses provided.  My personal suggestion for initial contact with matches is to be vague but don't lie.  Unfortunately there are some people involved in genealogy who may not feel comfortable sharing information with someone who is adopted or donor-conceived.  Luckily this seems to be a rarity, as genealogists are in the "business" of finding family!!  However, while many genealogists have come across adoptees searching, many have not had experience interacting with donor-conceived people, and as with the rest of society, there is a prevailing attitude and stigma set on us.

Here is an example of an email to send to new matches:

Dear __________,
I just received my Family Finder results and we were listed as suggested 3rd cousins.  I believe our connection must be on my paternal side.  I have very little genealogical information on my paternal family so I'd be grateful for any information you might have.
Thanks,
________________

Some might assume you are adopted at this point - again, many genealogists have come into contact with adoptees.  If they think you're adopted and are not refusing to provide information you're probably safe to correct them and disclose.  As you correspond with these matches you can "come clean" about being donor conceived when it feels right.

4a. If you made it to this point positively your match responded to your email and you're on your way to getting to know your family (even if it is distant) and perhaps gain more knowledge or direction towards your bio father's identity.  You might be amazed at the incredible wealth of information you matches have, and many, even if they are unable to identify who your bio father is, are more than willing to accept you as family and help you as best they can.

4b. If your match did not respond, or refuses communication, all is not lost.  Unlike 23andMe (with which if a match doesn't respond you're up a creek without a paddle because you don't have a name or any information on your match and his/her family), FTDNA provides the name, email address, and if the match submitted ancestral surnames and/or GEDCOMs.  With this information at least you have a name and some information so you can research that person and his/her family on your own to try and gather more about their family.  A great place after a basic Google search (some people have public family trees up on the WWW) is Ancestry.com.  You can get a free trial subscription for 2-weeks, and can pay for a single month or up to a year subscription (though it's cheaper in the long-run to pay for the year subscription).  Not only are there millions of genealogical records (church, local government, family, etc), census records, newspapers, public records (very useful if you have a DOB and a location or possible surname), and more, but there are also millions of public family trees created by Ancestry members.  Since FTDNA is geared towards genealogists, many of your matches may have a family tree posted publicly on Ancestry.com (or other websites such as MyHeritage.com), and if you can find it you can at least see the family tree (minus any living members).  This isn't going to give you your bio father's name (unless you're an older offspring and you believe he's likely deceased), but it might point you in some directions.

5. Join projects....and/or get involved.  If one of your matches has a family group, they may invite you to join.  This can either be something like a FTDNA official project, or a private group/listserv.  Even if your matches don't have information, their family members might!!  I know this to be the case just in my mother's family with regards to very recent family history - sometimes one sibling or one branch of the family has some bit of knowledge that was for some unknown reason never passed on to the others.  So it's possible that someone else might just have a little golden nugget of information.

6. And last but not least, remember as you start this journey...these matches are your family.  Worst case scenario is you will not gain any further information about your bio father from this test.  But while that technically can happen, do not pass over one of the most important aspects of this test.  You have found your family.  They may not be your bio father, or even know your bio father, but they are your kin.  Savor the opportunity to get to know your bio father's family and learn more about yourself in the process.

Official Release: Donor Conceived DNA Project!!

I am excited to announce the creation of the first and only worldwide DNA project for donor-conceived adults and former/current donors through Family Tree DNA.  

Project website: Donor Conceived DNA Project 

The main goals of the project will be as follows:

1. A central location for donor-conceived individuals to locate half-siblings
2. A central location for former and current donors to locate their biological children

Other goals of the project are to provide awareness to donor-conceived adults, former/current donors, and parents of donor-conceived children to the benefits and successes of using DNA tests to identify not only half-siblings but to give direction to the identity of the biological parent, and to analyze the DNA of donor-conceived adults in an anthropological light.

Benefits of joining the project are:

1. A place to direct potential half-siblings to without dealing with costly and ineffective and inconclusive half-siblingship DNA tests using CODIS markers
2. Ability to have expert advice on interpreting results and assistance on using results to identify potential biological parents
3. Opportunity to be involved in a revolutionary project that can confirm donor relationships without the use of donor numbers, mother's DNA, or costly registries
4. Opportunity to identify donor-conceived adult relatives beyond half-siblings (such as cousins)

Benefits for the donor conception community as a whole:

1. Identify DNA trends among donor-conceived adults
2. Identify relative groups who all acted as donors (such as fathers and sons or brothers)
3. Identify donors who may have donated at multiple locations with different donor numbers
4. Identify significant age gaps in donor-conceived half-siblings from the same donor

Tests currently accepted:

1. FTDNA's Family Finder autosomal test (for males and females to identify genetic relatives on all lines including paternal cousins and male and female half-siblings)
2. FTDNA and any compatible 3rd party company's Y-STR tests (for males only to identify genetic relatives from the direct paternal line...useful in identifying possible surnames of biological father and confirming only male half-siblings)

YOU MUST ORDER (or already have done) A DNA TEST TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROJECT!!!

FTDNA's Family Finder test: $289 (PREFERRED)

FTDNA's Y-STR tests: starting at $169

Disclaimer for minors:

Parents of donor-conceived children are advised to make sure that your child is of an age to consent to having his or her DNA swabbed and added to the FTDNA database as well as this project.  I strongly suggest minor children be at least 13 years of age.

Upon requesting to join you will be asked to answer the following questions

Name:

DNA tests ordered:

Offspring or donor:

Year of conception or years donated:

Sperm bank or clinic where donor donated (if known):

Doctor that performed the insemination (if known):

Place of conception:

Donor number (if known):

Siblings (if any) - please note if any siblings have done DNA tests and what tests:

Please email me with questions or concerns about these tests or the project.

Feel free to repost this announcement to other DC groups.

Lindsay Greenawalt

Group Administrator

Donor Conceived DNA Project

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/donor_conceived/default.aspx

What do my Family Finder test results mean?

A slight oversight on my part, I realize that I never did the post that I initially wanted to do for my series on FTDNA's Family Finder test, and that is what information do you get from this test and what does it all mean?

What is the Family Finder test?
Family Finder (FF) is a product from Family Tree DNA that can identify genetic relatives both close and distant up to 5 generations.  The test uses autosomal DNA (Chromosomes 1-22) and the X chromosome to identify regions of your DNA that are "Identical By Descent" (IBD) with other members of the database.  Based on the amount of IBD (as opposed to "Identical By State" (IBS), which is DNA shared between two people that is coincidental) DNA shared between two individuals the algorithms created by FTDNA can determine a relationship range as well as in close genetic relatives, a suggested relationship.


What information do I get from this test?
Personalized website: MyFTDNA
After you order a kit, once it's mailed to you and you swab your cheeks and return the kit to FTDNA, you will get a confirmation email that will identify your Kit # and password.  Then you log into MyFTDNA with your kit # and password and you will be brought to your homepage where once your results come in this will be where everything will be located.

This is what my MyFTDNA homepage currently looks like with my FF results back.

When you first get your kit back you will need to go to where it says "Pending Lab Results" (marked in green). This will tell you what batch # you are in and when your results are expected back.

Once your results are returned the heading (marked in blue) where it says "Family Finder Illumina OmniExpress" will have listed the following tabs (click to take you to that section of this post):

Matches

Chromosome Browser

Known Relationships

Population Finder

Download Raw Data

These are the tools that you're going to use to identify your paternal relatives and possibly your biological father.


Matches
Obviously your matches are the most important aspect of this test, but in order to gain the most from them I'm going to explain a few things.

When you first get your results and you click on "Matches" you will be brought to a page that looks like this:


This is a list of your genetic relatives.  However, the default of what is shown is only your close and immediate genetic relatives.  If you do not have any make sure you change the "Relation" bar to include ALL MATCHES.

My close matches take up 2 pages, and all my matches take up 7 pages (I have 12 close matches and 66 total matches).

What you see here is the name of your genetic cousins and the following pieces of information.
Relationship range - this is a range based on FTDNA's algorithms that determines about how close or distant they believe you and this person to be based on the amount of shared DNA.
Suggested relationship - this is again, based on the algorithm devised by FTDNA and is the "most likely" relationship based on DNA. Only close and immediate relatives have a suggested relationship.
Shared cM - cM is "centimorgans" and it's the standard measurement of distance for DNA.  It's actually the recombinant frequency, so if 1cM corresponds to 1 million base pairs, that means that if two markers or SNPs in the genome are 1cM apart, there is a 1% chance of them being separated through crossing-over in a single generation.  So the more shared cM's two people have means they are more likely to be closer related.
Longest block - Again based on cM, while the Shared cM looks at the total amount of shared DNA across the genome, the Longest Block looks at the longest stretch of shared DNA in a row.  Obviously, a long stretch of identical alleles between two individuals suggests that they are very closely related.
Ancestral Surnames - This is a SELF-REPORTED list of surnames that they know are a part of their family (though due to non-parental events - infidelity, secret adoption, donor conception, etc - these are not always accurate).  However,  this will give you an idea as to the potential surnames of your biological father, his possible ethnic groups, and the location(s) that his family may live or have lived.

NOTE ABOUT SUGGESTED RELATIONSHIPS:
It came to my attention after I got my results and started talking to my matches (it never dawned on me before), that the majority of people who order genealogical DNA tests tend to be older (Boomers and up), because they tend to be the ones with the time on their hands to be doing hardcore genealogy research, and have the money to spend on such tests.  However, many donor-conceived adults who are thinking about or have already ordered this test tend to be younger (Boomers and down) than the average genealogist on FTDNA.  So the suggested relationships for those of us who identify as Gen X or Gen Y is going to be skewed.  For example, my #1 match had a relationship range of 1st to 3rd cousin and a suggested relationship of 2nd cousin.  But he is an older gentleman, likely in my grandmother's generation.  So while FTDNA suggests we are 2nd cousins, it is unable to take into account that there is a 2 generation gap between us, so we are probably "closer" cousins than that.  Turns out we are actually 1st cousins 2x removed.  But the algorithms cannot differentiate that.  So just FYI, if your matches are significantly older than you are, it's possible that the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) is not, for example suggested 2nd cousins, your g-grandparents.  In my example, our MRCA is his grandfather, but my gg-grandfather, thus 1st cousins 2x removed.


Chromosome Browser
This is a tool where you can select up to 5 of your matches and see where on the genome you have shared DNA.  This is especially helpful if you want to see perhaps if one of your matches might also be related to another one of your matches.  Though remember, if you all share the same segment of DNA with two different matches it's highly likely that all 3 of you are related, but if there is no shared DNA between the 3 of you it does not suggest that you are NOT all related.


Known Relationships
The KR tab is really sort of a crappy tool.  It's something that honestly should be available for all of your matches, but has been relegated to only those with whom you supposedly can identify with a paper trail. What it does is that for matches that you identify as a "known relationship", you are then able to see what matches you have in common.  Ironically, this feature is available on the free GEDMatch program (but the downfall is that it's much less accurate).


Population Finder

The PF tool is still in beta, but for those of us who are donor-conceived, it might be the best chance we have at determining a general locale that our biological father's ancestry might lie.

As you can see at the left, this is my PF results.  They are as accurate as they could be with the very limited reference samples that FTDNA uses.  Here is a list of their sample set.  As you can see there are only a handful of different ethnic groups for each large population.


The European population set is:
Northern European (Finnish and Russian)
Southeast European (Romanian)
Southern European (Italian, Sardinian, and Tuscan)
Western European (Basque, French, Orcadian, Spanish)

Obviously there are some really huge ethnic groups missing just in Western Europe, not to mention the rest of the continent and all the other population groups!!  What this means is that your PF results are going to take your data and match it to the closest continent(s) and population(s) as possible, but they do not mean that those are your ethnic groups.  Obviously I have no French ancestry, yet PF says I'm 72.4% Western European with French and Orcadian (the Orkney Islands are a part of Scotland).  I'm also a quarter Armenian, yet my Middle Eastern results (27.6%) came up as Iranian (right next door), Adygei (a Caucasus people near Russia - Armenians are also a part of the Caucasus population), and Druze (an eclectic religious sect thats beliefs are a combination of all the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) found throughout the Levant, mostly Syria, Lebanon, and Israel - not really sure about this one, but same region thus probably similar DNA).

Bottom line, the ethnic groups that I belong to are not population groups that are used in this sample set, so they picked ones that most closely resemble my true ethnic heritage.

My suggestion if you want more accurate ethnic breakdowns, after you get your results email your raw data to Dr. McDonald.  His population sets are much larger and more inclusive and he will give you a much more definite idea as to your ethnic makeup.  Dr. McDonald's analysis of my DNA was pretty much dead on.

Here's what he said about my ancestry:

Most likely fit is 70.5% (± 3.8%) Europe (all Western Europe) and 29.5% (± 3.8%) Mideast (various subcontinents).

The following are possible population sets and their fractions, most likely at the top:

English= 0.677 Armenian= 0.323 

French= 0.768  Iranian= 0.232 

French= 0.726 Georgian= 0.274 

French= 0.696   Adygei= 0.304 

English= 0.660 Georgian= 0.340 

These are in fact exactly what I would expect given what you say. 

Czech comes out an (English or French)/(Armenian or Georgian) mix or an English/Romanian. Thus its no surprise that English-Armenian fits best. 

The Mideast on the chromosomes is very weak indeed, very close to Europe, as befits just a little Armenian, which itself is rather European.

 I'm going to do a post in the near future just on McDonald analysis, so stay tuned for more information about what Principle Component Analysis is and what information you get from Dr. McDonald.


Download Raw Data

Fairly self-explanatory.  You can download your raw data and then use it in some of the programs and tools I talked about last week.

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I will continue this series with more information and advice on how to use your FF results to best of your advantage, including how to best contact matches, how to gain information from matches that don't respond, and more!

Top 10 things to do with your FTDNA raw data

So in the latest installment of "Lindsay needs to get a life and to stop playing with her FF results" (aka my series on the Family Finder DNA test)...

I want to provide some cool tools and programs I've discovered that are not only FREE but can give you even more insight into both your DNA and that of your biological father's.

So this is my Top 10 list of tools, programs, and manipulations that can enhance your DNA testing experience.

But first you need to download your raw data. I've created a very simple tutorial here on how to do this.


1. Eurogenes Biogeographic Ancestry Project
This project is one of several ADMIXTURES out there that are individuals who take raw FTDNA/23andMe results and attempt to place them (in relation to the other individuals in the project) with the breakdown of their deep ancestry.

If you are interested in submitting your raw samples to this project, email the unzipped (.csv) files of both your autosomal and X-DNA raw data to eurogenesblog [at] hotmail [dot] com, and include your known ancestry (at least the ethnic groups of your 4 grandparents - if able).  They will respond with an ID # that you will use later to determine where your results lie on the BGA charts.

I just joined this project and I am "US238" so hopefully I will show up in some upcoming BGA charts.

2. Doug McDonald's BGA Analysis
Doug McDonald is a Chemistry professor at University of Illinois.  In his spare time he takes raw data from FF and 23andMe and does "chromosome painting".  This is a process (using a software program he developed) that can identify regions of your DNA that correlate to specific ethnic groups.  This a great addition to FF's Population Finder, because McDonald's analysis can help to narrow down specific ethnic groups where the PF has vague results.  It can be especially helpful if you have a tiny bit of say African, Asian, or Middle Eastern in your PF results, to narrow down exactly what ethnic group it comes from.  It can also be helpful because the PF results have difficulty differentiating between individuals whose ancestors were from Southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

If you are interested in having a free BGA analysis, Doug's contact information can be found here.  He only responds to email requests and often has a backlog and may not be taking on new people, so be prepared to wait for your results.

UPDATE [6/22/2011]: I received my BGA analysis from Dr. McDonald in about 36 hours from when I sent him my files, so it appears that currently he has no backlog.


3. Dienekes Ponikos' Dodecad Ancestry Project
The Dodecad Project is another ADMIXTURE program like Eurogenes.  The focus of this project is on under-represented European ethnic groups (mostly southern European and Middle Eastern, and some Scandinavian).

This project currently has an open-ended submission opportunity for 23andMe and FF results.  However, it is only  limited to individuals who are of European, Asian, or North African ancestry and all 4 of their grandparents are from the same European, Asian, or North African ethnic group or country.

Dienekes has an older program, that he himself does not support anymore (it was superseded by the Dodecad Project) but for anyone interested, it's called EURO-DNA-CALC.  It's an old program and has some very notable errors.  Mainly that it is unable to distinguish many Southern Europeans from Ashkenazi Jewish populations, so many individuals get over-inflated or downright wrong assumptions of Jewish heritage.  For example, my results on this test came out to:

65% Northwestern European
18% Southeastern European
17% Ashkenazi Jewish

So it's reading my Armenian DNA as Jewish because it's unable to differentiate between Mediterranean/Middle Eastern and Jewish ancestry.


4. Y-Search
I know that I have discussed the Y-Search database previously.  This is the one raw data tool that is not for autosomal results (as well as it's mtDNA counterpart MitoSearch).  This is a free public database for individuals who have tested with different companies for their Y-DNA, to upload their raw data and find matches.

5. GEDMatch
GEDMatch is the autosomal DNA equivalent of Y-Search and MitoSearch.  It is a free program that you upload your results to and it provides your "matches" and their email addresses.  The only caution on this program is that their thresholds are much lower than that of FTDNA and 23andMe so take results with a grain of salt.  If there is no number under the "Gen" column, it's probably not a viable match.

This is a great opportunity to see if there are potential matches who may have tested with 23andMe.  There is also a triangulation function, where after uploading your FTDNA matches you can see what matches overlap.  The other plus is that you can click on a match and see what their results are, so it's simple to identify matches in common.

6. Converting FF data to 23andMe format
From some of the extremely helpful members of the FTDNA Forums, here's how you convert your FF raw data to the 23andMe format:

# You autosomal Family Finder data has a csv.gz extension, i.e., it is a comma-delimited GZIP-compressed file. You should use an suitable program (e.g., Winrar or Winzip) to extract the csv file into the same directory as in step #1.# Open the csv file in any text editor (Word or Wordpad should work fine).# Remove the header (RSID,CHROMOSOME,POSITION,RESULT) at the top of the file# Replace all quotes (") with nothing.# Replace all commas (,) with tabs.# Replace all missing value characters (-) with the character m.# Save the file in the same directory as 23andme.txt. You've just converted your Family Finder data into a format that mimics that of 23andme.

This is necessary for some of the programs, such as Enlis and Genomera, that do not work in the FTDNA format.

7. Interpretome
Interpretome is the newest tool listed here, literally just released in the past few weeks.  It's another program that was designed for 23andMe customers, but some aspects will work with FTDNA raw data (notably the "Ancestry" section).

There are two tools within Interpretome, under the Ancestry heading, that are really great.  You just upload your raw data and select the population group that most likely resembles you.

First is chromosome painting, though with the limited sample sets most people are going to come up as 100% European.

The second tool, and the one I found the most useful (though I'm still learning how to use it), is the PCA - Principal Component Analysis.  You can select different sample sets (World, Asian, African, European, and Middle Eastern/Jewish) and it will map your data onto the data of that sample set.  You can also select how many SNPs are looked at.  1,000 will give you the fastest results, but 100,000 is the most detailed and likely the most accurate.  The best "dimensions" to use for Europeans are:
X-axis: PC4
Y-axis: PC1

This will give results that are very geographically representative of Europe.  But I'm still not 100% sure what the dimensions are for and what they do.

It seems that the best sample set is the POPRES: European set.  But it's far from a perfect program.  My world results peg me in-between Near Eastern (okay, that one makes sense) and African (woah?!?).  Not sure where the 75% European part of my DNA went.

8. Promethease
If you're contemplating doing the 23andMe test solely for the medical information, let me let you in on a little secret.  Promethease is a free downloadable program through SNPedia that you upload your raw data to and it provides you with your very own website that has many SNPs that have been shown in various (some not very reliable b/c of small sample size or wrong population group) medical conditions and other traits. Some I've found are dead on.  Others I wonder as to their accuracy.  But it's a fun tool to play around with.  For $2 the processing time goes from 2-4 hours to 10 minutes and there are some special features that are unlocked.

The Mac version of the program worked just fine for me, but I don't know how the PC version is.

FTDNA has fixed their autosomal raw data so that works fine in Promethease, but the X-DNA raw data is still in the wrong format and will display incorrect results.  Just FYI.

9. David Pike's Runs of Homozygosity (ROHs) calculator
Wonder if your mom and biological father might be distantly related?  Looking at Runs of Homozygosity can give you an idea as to how much of your DNA is the same from both your maternal and paternal side.

This program must be run on Firefox.

NOTE: Do not look at the % homozygosity.  Most individuals are around 70% homozygous.  Instead at the top of your report will be chromosomes with # of SNPs and Mb size of "runs" of homozygous SNPs in a row.  This is what is important.  If you have runs of SNPs that are 5, 10, 15Mb (megabases) long, THAT indicates that your parents perhaps are from similar ethnic backgrounds or similar ancestral makeups and may be very distantly related.

My longest "run" was only 5Mb, and all the rest were under 2, so that suggests (as I already pretty much knew) that my mother and biological father are from very different ethnic backgrounds.

10. Enlis and Genomera
And lastly rounding out the top 10, I confess, I am adding this because I needed 10 for my top 10.  These two programs are the only ones I have not either researched or participated in, simply because I have not had the time to format my FTDNA raw data to 23andMe format.  Also, I'm not clear if they are only free demos and then you have to pay.  I've heard mixed reviews about these programs, so at least for now these are my least recommended (along with the EURO-DNA-CALC program).

Jewish donors...a blessing and a curse for ancestral DNA testing

Based on the small sample size of the current members of the brand new Donor Conceived Project at FTDNA [as of 10pm on 6/14/2011: 15 offspring, 1 donor, 12 Americans], it seems the stereotype of all those jewish medical students/residents/doctors being donors could be true.  Almost half (5) of the 12 American offspring have evidence/proof that their biological was, at least ethnically-speaking, Jewish.

The thing that I wanted to bring to light is how this discovery can be both a wealth of information and a black hole of nothing.  And it all boils down to luck.

And here are some reasons why, and some things to consider if you a) believe your biological father was/is Jewish, or b) if you receive results that signify Jewish lineage.

Genetic Bottlenecking
[EDIT 7/2/2011 - see comments for source]


The population bottleneck in Ashkenazi Jewry results from the fact that all of the Ashkenazi Jewish population is descended from a small number of founders who moved to northern France and the Rhineland about 1200 years ago.

A more accurate description of the effect of this bottleneck is not that all AJs are fifth cousins several times over, but rather that all AJs are 10th-30th cousins many, many, many, many, many times over.

In other words, this bottleneck existed long before Hitler. We are all (as eastern European Jews) very closely related. A better name of this bottleneck effect is "founder effect" or founder population.

And since the algorithms used by testing companies like FTDNA look at the amount of shared DNA to establish how closely related two individuals are, with an endogamous population like the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe, they will falsely predict two individuals of being closer related than they actually are because there is so much shared DNA.

Now FTDNA is trying to correct this by tweaking (or possibly creating a new algorithm??) for individuals who appear to have Ashkenazi ancestry, so anyone who currently has Eastern European Jews as matches may find that some of those matches may disappear and other close matches may be moved to the speculative or more distant categories.

The concern with bottlenecking (and actually dealing with any endogamous population...such as rural America and certain religious groups like the Amish that tend to stay in the same place for generations), is that many of your matches might be much more distantly related than FF suggests, as well as related through multiple avenues.

The Holocaust = No paper trails
Obviously the Holocaust destroyed most, if not all, of the records of European Jews.  With no records and a bunch of recent immigrants that fled death, the likelihood that your matches are going to have extensive family histories and know all their 2nd, 3rd, 4th cousins is rare.  Often they are doing this test to try and find their lost family members who were separated during WWII.  They may or may not be concerned with your plight as a donor offspring, but unless the match is close enough to your biological father that they would be in contact today, they probably are just as clueless as you are!

“Sheyn fergessen”
Surnames.  Many Jews, upon coming to America were either so overwhelmed that, as the Yiddish story goes, the old man, upon arriving at Ellis Island was asked his name, and he responded "sheyn fergessen" (I forgot).  The official at Ellis Island supposedly took that as his name and recorded his name as Sean Fergusson.  Now, whether or not this is a true story is neither here nor there.  The point is that names change.  Especially surnames.  Jews (along with many other Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterners during that time period) often felt the need to change the spelling of their surname, or often change it all-together so that they would be seen more as Americans and not discriminated against.  It's no wonder that some of the most common Jewish names today are Miller and Brown.  This name change, especially a change so recent, could make it nearly impossible to identify your biological father based on the ancestral surnames of your matches, or even on the results of a Y-DNA test!!

But even for the Ashkenazi jews that did not change their names specifically upon coming to America, for most Eastern European jews, surnames as they are seen in Western Europe and America, were a foreign concept to most ethnic groups originating in the Middle East (including my Armenian family).  Patrilineal inheritance of surnames was only something thrust upon them by the governing bodies of the lands where they lived in Europe (Germany, Austria, Russia, etc).  Traditionally most Jews (besides names associated with the ancient priestly castes: Cohen and Levy) were called by their given name, and to differentiate the word "Ben" (son of) and their father's name was added.  When surnames were introduced or mandated, many of the same genetic clan picked up different surnames, often based on the occupation of the head of the household.

So not only might your matches be more distant than FF suggests them to be because they could be your 5th cousin 3 times instead of your 2nd cousin, but that match might not even have any information or surnames that could help you identify your biological father.

Lotsa jews
However...it's not all bad.  The big plus side to discovering or knowing your biological father is/was Jewish (by heritage, not necessarily by religion) is that while most people who sign up for the Family Finder test get dozens of matches, you're likely going to get HUNDREDS of matches!!  Due to a multitude of reasons (reconnecting lost loved ones, missing paper trails, and a a great interest not only in personal genealogy but the genealogy and history of their people), there are more Ashkenazi jews that go through genealogical DNA tests than any other specific ethnic group.

That means you'll have a significantly higher probability of matching with a close or immediate relative of your biological father.

So it's obvious that learning that your  biological father was Jewish provides you with a lot of potential in DNA testing, but also a lot of frustration.  The one thing that I know is that for all my donor-conceived friends who just in the past few months learned their father was Jewish, it gives a sense of identity that was not felt before.

And as I remind myself as go through this testing process, each one of your matches is family.  So the idea of finding your family and learning more at least about your deeper ancestral roots, is something to speak for.

So you're thinking about doing a genealogical DNA test...

This is my latest installment of my collection of posts related to FTDNA's FamilyFinder test.

I've received several questions over the past few weeks about doing autosomal DNA tests, and one of the most common is: Which test is better - FamilyFinder or 23andMe??

Unfortunately the answer is not that simple.  My honest advice is that doing both is likely your best option, though I understand the costs involved with going through two separate tests (especially if you are having your mother tested as well).

So I'm going to break down both tests and leave the actual decisions to you.

Both tests use similar platforms, Illumina (but slightly different microarrays), to test and analyze DNA so there is little concern that the results and the accuracy of one is better than the other.  However, beyond that they take very different paths.

FamilyFinder (by Family Tree DNA)

• FF test is designed specifically to find relatives on all lines
• Designed for the genealogical community
• Database size: ~10,000
• FTDNA tests both autosomal and Y-STR (for males) providing more insight into paternal side
• All matches have signed the waiver to set their information to "public" for their matches
• Ancestral surnames and GEDCOMs (family trees) of matches are displayed
• Email addresses of matches are displayed
• Matches are much much more willing to respond to contact
• Much higher threshold of shared DNA before a "match" is acknowledged, thus better (closer) matches
• Population Finder feature is only in beta version so it's very sketchy in identifying actual ethnic makeup correctly
• Created a new algorithm to compensate for the high number of intermarriage in the Ashkenazi population

RelativeFinder (by 23andMe)

• RelativeFinder is only one aspect of the 23andMe test
• Designed not just for genealogy, but also individuals seeking medical information
• Database size: ~ 80,000 to 90,000
• Does not test Y-STR or mtDNA -- however for DC adults, health information is very valuable
• Ancestral surnames are hidden unless the person clicks public option within their online 23andMe profile
• Must contact matches through 23andMe's private messaging system - no email addresses provided
• Only allowed to contact 5 new matches a day through the private messaging system
• Matches are much less willing to be contacted - many only do the test for health information
• Ancestry Finder is a much stronger program to identify "deep-clade ancestry"
• Acknowledged skewed results for those with Ashkenazi ancestry, but has not yet tried to create a new algorithm to accurately determine cousinship

Bottom line: 

FamilyTreeDNA's FF test has a significantly smaller database so the chances of getting a close or immediate relative are smaller, but the matches you have will be more willing to respond.  And those that don't you still have their name and if they listed ancestral surnames/locations (this can be helpful, as many non-responders still have their family trees public on Ancestry.com).

23andMe's RF test has a significantly larger database (especially including many more Europeans), so the chances of getting a close or immediate match are better, but those matches are going to be in general less likely to respond.  And since their names and ancestral surnames are hidden there is little chance of getting information from non-responders.

Exciting News: "Donor Conceived Project" at FTDNA!!!

I am very very excited to announce that my application for the creation of a special project for donor-conceived adults, former and current donors, and recipient parents on behalf of their underage donor-conceived children, was accepted this week by FamilyTree DNA!!!

Family Tree DNA Projects - list of current surname and geographic projects in the FTDNA database for Y-STR, mtDNA, and Family Finder tests.

UPDATE [4/10/2011]:
Here is the new website for the Donor Conceived DNA Project at Family Tree DNA - for donor-conceived individuals and former and current donors, Y-STR test and Family Finder test accepted.

Yours truly (me) will be the primary group administrator, and in the future I hope to add several other admins to assist me.

In the coming weeks I will be creating a public website for our project and I invite anyone who has submitted their DNA to FTDNA (Y-STR test or Family Finder test) to join this project.

The main goals of the project will be as follows:

1) A central location for donor-conceived individuals to locate half-siblings
2) A central location for former and current donors to locate their biological children

I have in the past advised donor-conceived adults to have their mother's tested if they are looking to trace their biological father using the Family Finder test, however for offspring who are more interested or concerned with finding siblings (especially pre-donor number era offspring), or for whatever reason cannot have mom tested, this is a great alternative.

Compared to traditional siblingship tests which for the most conclusive results require both mother's to be tested, or tests like CaBRI that require females to have mom and another female maternal relative tested, this test only needs your DNA.

This project will also be able to identify donors who's sperm was sold to other banks/clinics, sold overseas, or even in instances where the doctor himself was the donor (or the doctor recruited his/her family members to be donors).  Especially in the past secretive era of donor conception, I strongly believe many donors from private clinics were related and perhaps many donor conceived people are actually cousins with one another!  This project will examine the ancestral makeup of donor-conceived people (is it really true that a significant number of donors were/are Jewish doctors or is that an "old wives tale"? -- this project could perhaps shed some light on that assumption).


WOAH!!!!

And an even bigger update....my FF results were just posted!  Over a month early!!  A suggested paternal 2nd cousin and about a dozen suggested paternal 3rd and 4th cousins!  I am still digesting the information, but I will update ASAP.

Very quick update on my FFDNA test

So before I lose power/wifi in yet another ridiculous midwestern storm (severe storm warnings, loads of lightening and hail, tornado watches issued...luckily the funnel clouds/tornados were all about 15 miles north --- at least for now), I wanted to quick update and say that my kit was received by FTDNA and I'm in batch #414.  My results are expected by 7/20/2011.  So until then, we wait.....

But in the meantime I will do at least a post or two discussing this test more in-depth as well as some interesting information I've come across in my research.

I got my DNA set on you

The poet George Harrison reminded us what a little determination can do when we set out mind to something.

"I got my mind set on you, I got my mind set on you
I got my mind set on you, I got my mind set on you
But it's gonna take money, a whole lotta spending money 

It's gonna take plenty of money, to do it right child
It's gonna take time, a whole lotta precious time
It's gonna take patience and time, mmm to do it, to do it
To do it, to do it, to do, to do it, right"

And while as donor-conceived adults our goal is not to "get the girl", that same sense of determination has pushed a growing number of offspring to take a stand --- regardless of time and money involved in our search.  Whether it's Olivia Pratten taking on the province of British Columbia and WINNING (thankfully not in a Charlie Sheen sort of way....), or the less-heroic of our ranks attempting the impossible in other ways, we are fed up and we're doing something about it!!

Last Monday I reported submitting my DNA to the FamilyFinderDNA database.  Today Girl Conceived blogged about her entertaining breakfast of coffee and DNA scrapers (though I sure hope she was not drinking coffee before scraping!!!) for the same test.  Several close DC friends have already received their results from FTDNA, including Stephanie Blessing, Damian Adams, and several others who I will not mention for some privacy reasons.  Elizabeth Marquardt even blogged this afternoon on Family Scholars this recent "outbreak" of DNA tests among offspring.

And to top it off, yesterday a former donor added his information to the AmFOR Donor Offspring Registry with the note that he has added his DNA to the 23andMe database and hopes to find his biological offspring using their "Relative Finder" program (similar to FTDNA's FamilyFinder database).

My first reaction to this is the ironic juxtaposition of our biological fathers' sperm (genetic material used to create a new life) contained in small vials to be removed indefinitely from its roots, and our spit (also genetic material, that is it contains our DNA) contained in small vials with a hope to be reconnected to those very same roots...that were both unceremoniously disposed of in what were likely similar 1mL vials.

My next observation is the fact that this process, these results, this knowledge, is all something that we as donor-conceived adults are posting to the World Wide Web where it will likely be perserved indefinitely (or at least until December 21, 2012!!  You never know, maybe computers won't be able to function beyond the Mayan calendar - flashback Y2K).  Therefore it's something that will eventually become knowledge for the masses.  Knowledge for the infertility industry, for lawmakers, for current and future recipient parents, and for former, current, and future donors.

Regardless of where you live, what the law dictates...anonymity is dissolved.  It was dissolved as soon as some novel teenage offspring had the brilliant idea of looking for their donor on MySpace and then MySpace's successor, Facebook.  It was dissolved as soon as Ryan Kramer traced his donor using FTDNA's Y-DNA test.  And it will be further dissolved as more and more donor-conceived adults submit their DNA to databases such as FTDNA, 23andMe, and more.

What makes these tests so perfect is that unlike traditional paternity tests, the donor does not have to consent to his DNA being used.  It's not, at least not in the legal sense.  But in the ancestral sense his DNA is alive and well in his close relatives.  And it is the genealogical inquiries of those relatives that will drive donors out of their cloak of anonymity once and for all.  Donors cannot control what their 2nd and 3rd cousins do....heck, most likely they don't even know who their 2nd or 3rd cousins are!!!  But for genealogy buffs, not only is their the possibility that they share the same surname (especially the case with Y-DNA tests), but they may even have elaborate family trees discovered and can point you right to the guy who went to X University for medical school, or at least identify family members who lived in the location that you were conceived in at that time.

So former, current, and future donors and recipient parents --- you have been forewarned.  Any promise of anonymity by your clinic or sperm bank, take with a grain of salt.  If you truly never want to know your biological children, DON'T DONATE!!  Parents, if you choose an anonymous donor because you do not want your child to know their biological parent.  DON'T USE A DONOR!!!

Because the donor-conceived children of today and tomorrow are going to have technology on their side.