123andme

[helvissa]

Just wondering if the 23andme test is worth doing?

https://www.23andme.com/

It seems to be reduced ($99 so about £66 at the moment) and I dunno but I would suppose that it's the same lab that's doing the Ancestry.com tests (they're the same price...!).

I nearly did it (seeing as Ancestry.co.uk doesn't have the testing yet), but international post for 123andme costs a whopping $70!

So I thought, I'll shelve this until ancestry.co.uk do it.

I was mainly thinking that it looked like better value for money than http://www.familytreedna.com/ but then I wondered if maybe the test at 23andme wasn't as thorough. A friend of mine has done 23andme and was saying her husband has Neanderthal DNA - but I thought that had been disproved and that there was no genetic evidence for human/Neanderthal interbreeding?!

[helvissa]

PS: I'm female. I could get my dad to do the Y-chromosome some test, but I like the idea of doing a full DNA test. I quite liked the ethnic testing that 23andme say they do but I don't know how far it goes back (if that makes sense). I've hit a brick wall on a line of my tree which my grandad said was Jewish.

PPS: Apols for calling this thread 123andme. you knew what I meant!

[davidft]

I think you need to sit down and decide what you want to get out of a test first.

Once you have done that read about the tests on different websites as they all vary. eg 123andme, ftdna, Nat Geographic etc Remember just because something is cheaper doesn't mean its automatically better value

[DevonCruwys]

ISOGG have comparisons chart of the autosomal DNA tests offered by the four main companies:

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

It's worth reading some of the blog posts to get a feel for what the tests are all about. You can read my reviews of the 23andMe test and the Family Finder test here:

http://cruwys.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/23andme-test-now-down-to-99.html

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

23andMe and Geno 2.0 are currently the only tests that give Neanderthal percentages. All non-Africans have a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA.

The 23andMe test has the advantage of giving you all the health and trait information which is interesting in its own right. It also has a cousin-matching service. However, a lot of the 23andMe testees are only interested in the health aspects and don't respond to genealogy requests.

The tests from 23andMe, FTDNA and Ancestry are all the same price. FTDNA works out cheaper for those of us in the UK because they only charge $7 for postage whereas 23andMe send the kits by courier and the shipping costs almost as much as the test itself. The AncestryDNA test is only available in the US. It is not worth waiting for this test. The AncestryDNA test doesn't include all the basic tools that you need to verify your matches such as shared segment data. You also need to have an Ancestry subscription to access some of the features. Ancestry have over 120,000 Americans in their database and if they do launch their test in the UK any Brits taking the test will be swamped with American matches but with no easy way of filtering the match list. (I'm one of the few UK people to have tested with Ancestry having tested with them in the early beta phase before they stopped allowing non-US orders.)

All these autosomal tests will give you matches with genetic cousins in the relevant databases. The tests are most effective at finding cousins within the last six generations or so. They do give you more distant matches going back for ten generations but some of these are false positives. In most cases it's impossible to find the paper trail connection. Even if you do find a connection it may not necessarily be on the line that you've identified. Few people, if any, can trace all their lines back for ten generations.

FTDNA specialise in Jewish ancestry and have lots of Jewish DNA projects:

http://www.jewishgen.org/DNA/genbygen.html

Ashkenazi Jews are what is known as an endogamous population (they all intermarry). Consequently Jewish people have excessively large numbers of matches.

If you want the health aspects go for 23andMe. If you want the cousin-matching go for FTDNA. Ideally if you can afford it then test with both companies. You would need to test with 23andMe first and then do the transfer to FTDNA using their third party transfer programme:

http://www.familytreedna.com/faq/answers.aspx?id=42

23andMe don't accept third party transfers so you can't test the other way round.

[helvissa]

David: exactly, cheapness is a false economy!

Devon: Thanks so much for taking the time to explain all that. I think for a first go, the FTDNA Family Finder at $99 might be the one to do. If it goes back 5 generations then that's what I'm looking for in my attempt to knock down some walls. I would've done the mitochondrial test, but I wanted something a little fuller. And there's those various surname projects on there - maybe I'll find a link that way? (or is that only really for Y-chromosome or mitochondrial?).

That is amazing about Neanderthals! Did they at some point suggest that Neanderthal DNA was linked with ginger hair, or perhaps that was the detail that got debunked?

I shall no doubt be back with the results of my test at some point.

[busybod]

Back in May I did a full mitochondrial dna sequence test with a company called DNA Worldwide.  I think their laboratories are in the US.  Results expected back on 1st August.  Interesting to see what it says.

[DevonCruwys]

Back in May I did a full mitochondrial dna sequence test with a company called DNA Worldwide.  I think their laboratories are in the US.  Results expected back on 1st August.  Interesting to see what it says.

DNAWorldwide are a UK company. They are partnered with Family Tree DNA in America and FTDNA do all their genetic genealogy testing. Your results will, therefore, go into the FTDNA database where you will be able to join the relevant mtDNA haplogroup project:

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

It's too late now but it would have been much cheaper to order the full sequence test direct from FTDNA. I understand that DNAWorldwide provide their own interpretation of the results but I've not seen any of their reports.

[DevonCruwys]

And there's those various surname projects on there - maybe I'll find a link that way? (or is that only really for Y-chromosome or mitochondrial?).

That is amazing about Neanderthals! Did they at some point suggest that Neanderthal DNA was linked with ginger hair, or perhaps that was the detail that got debunked?

The surname projects at FTDNA are mostly for Y-DNA results but some surname projects do accept Family Finder and/or mtDNA results.

Some Neanderthals have been found who had red hair and pale skin:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/318/5850/546.short

I'm not sure of the current thinking and whether it's thought that all Neanderthals had red hair.

There's a very good general article on the Neanderthals here:

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/march/14-interbreeding-neanderthals#.UeQIeG2h3z9

[busybod]

My mitochondrial DNA test results received back yesterday.  Not expected until 1st August, so 2 weeks early.  Must say though, its about as clear as mud to me!!