Autosomal DNA Test

[Matt62]

What company is the best too use for Autosomal DNA testing? FTDNA or 23andme?

Also, what is your assessment of the usefulness of autosomal DNA for genealogical purposes?

I have a very extensive paper trail for many of my lines going back roughly to the 18th century, on a few to the late 17th. I've always thought it would be incredible if I could probe more deeply into what genes I might or might not have inherited from particular ancestors. Yet I've heard that DNA testing is meagre in Britain and that I am unlikely to find distant cousins with genealogical trees as extensive as my own on, say, 23andme - something which would be necessary for to fulfil my desired objective.

I have a very interesting great-great-great grandfather who was born in Germany. I would be fascinated if I could find a fifth cousin or such over in Germany who might be descended from his parents.

Also, I am aware that 23andme at least does not break the British Isles up into its constituent countries but rather lumps Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales together which for me would be most unhelpful.

[DevonCruwys]

For those of us the in the UK the best autosomal test is the Family Finder test from Family Tree DNA. Although they have a smaller database than 23andMe it is more genealogically oriented and they probably have proportionately more Europeans and Brits in their database (they have a partnership with the Swiss based company iGENEA which brings in lots of French, German and Italian people to the database). See my blog post which explains how the Family Finder test works:

http://cruwys.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/new-family-finder-test-from-ftdna.html

The Family Finder test works out much cheaper than the 23andMe test because 23andMe use an expensive courier rather than sending the kits by normal post so it almost doubles the cost of the test. AncestryDNA also offer an autosomal test but it is currently only available in the US.

You would expect to get about 300 or so matches but it can be very difficult trying to establish the connection with the distant cousins. Also a lot of the matches are in America and it's impossible to find the connection. However, the database is growing all the time, and once you've paid for the test you just stay in the database and you can just keep checking your matches.

The ethnicity component of these tests is not very helpful at present. Americans tend to come out much more "British and Irish" than us "natives"!

Have a look at the autosomal DNA testing chart in the ISOGG Wiki and also the blog posts at the bottom of the page:

http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart

[JaneyCanuck]

My understanding is that you can get a lot more info about your own genetic makeup from the 23andMe tests, but if you are looking for matches 23andMe can be very disappointing - even if there are matches, many people who test there are not using it for that purpose and cannot be contacted.

FTDNA's express purpose is to find genetic matches so it may be most useful.

Concerning your great-great-great-grandfather -- is there an chance that he has a male-line descendant living and that you could have that person do a Y-DNA test?

That really is the most useful test for finding people with common ancestors so it's worth considering. (It's how I did, through the most amazing stroke of luck, that someone who matched my family member's Y-DNA had tested at FTDNA, introducing a whole new mystery into my biggest family mystery by introducing a previously unheard of third surname that is the only one for which there is now actual evidence, in the genes. On the other side of my family, I uploaded the results to Ancestry and discovered a 100% match with a person I share a gr-gr-grandfather with whom I had previously met via records at Ancestry, thus proving for sure that we are both "legitimate" descendants of that character, via different wives, anyway!)

For autosomal, as I understand it (which is fairly dimly ), you would do well also to test someone on each of your parents' sides of your family -- that way if you do find a match through autosomal testing you will be able to work out which side of the family the match is with.

Correct me if I am confused, DevonCruwys!!

[DevonCruwys]

Janey

The 23andMe test no longer provides the very interesting health and trait reports. Sadly these reports were suspended in November after the FDA intervened. 23andMe are currently going through the process of getting a proof of concept health report approved by the FDA, but I suspect it will still be some time until these reports are resumed.

You are quite right that with autosomal DNA testing it helps to test other close relatives so that you can work out which side of the family the matches are on. That's why it's more economical to use FTDNA for the testing as 23andMe charge a hefty fee to send their kits out by courier rather than using the standard postal service.

[Matt62]

Thank you for the advice Devon and Janey, it swayed me decidedly towards FTDNA and for that reason I ordered a Family Finder about a week and a half ago. The kit arrived two days ago and I'm going to do the swabs tomorrow and send it away. Is it ok to keep the test kit in your room for a few days before posting it? 

[DevonCruwys]

Matt

The FTDNA kits last for several years so storing the kit for a few days makes no difference whatsoever.