how do you find out whose dna is on a database?

[marcie dean]

if say ,I managed to obtain a sample of dna from maybe my uncle, how can I be sure that the dna that I want to test it against is on file?

[brigidmac]

I don't think you can ..unless you ask the person in question s descendants if they. Have a file

" file "  on what site ?

I put DNA onnAncestry and several 2nd cousins with right ethnicity turned up  we can work out from matches  what the connection is

Only 1 first cousin is on there but the cousins who share a great grandparent also confirm a link

I have also downloaded my DNA and hope to put it on another site

The more family members who do it the easier it is to eliminate


Good luck 

[RobertCasey]

Since you are talking about DNA being on file (I think), here are some issues:

1) If your uncle has tested (or somebody has sponsored his testing), you would have to contact the current individuals who access the account, add your email to the account (added as another sponsor). Once your email is added, you would have known their FTDNA ID (not sure about other vendors). You could probably also place orders as well - but would have to change the payment options to your credit card or your paypal. You should still get an email for permission to test from the donor for each test that you order though.

2) If you want to make sure that you have the donor's DNA on file - before placing orders, you can order kits for collection and collect the samples up front - be sure that you get an email from the donor as well giving you permission to test his/her DNA. I think FTDNA will also store DNA as well. They do charge a minimal fee for the extra collection kits.

3) If you think that they have already tested and want to determine the kit number, you would have just send them an email directly or call them to get their ID. This would allow you to know their ID in case they match other relatives or yourself.

[diplodicus]

I think that the short answer is: the level of anonymity is controlled by the person that submitted the sample. They can usually use either their name or a pseudonym or a nickname thus ensuring that they achieve the level of privacy that they wish to maintain.

There are a number of commercial programs that enable comparison of DNA samples but this requires the results of both samples to be mounted on the same site. Two such companies are gedmatch.com and ftdna.com. Both have the facility to import the results from a test undertaken by ancestry.com (or ancestry.co.uk).

[Ruskie]

if say ,I managed to obtain a sample of dna from maybe my uncle, how can I be sure that the dna that I want to test it against is on file?

You can't, and odds are that the other person/s has not tested.

If you have two or more people in mind who you want to have tested in order to compare results to see if there is a match, then you could approach all of them and offer to pay for them to be tested. You will need to set up the accounts in order to be able to view the results. Don't be surprised if either one or both are reluctant to test (a lot of people are suspicious of DNA tests).

Good luck.

[tresario]

I dont know if this is of any use to you. I did my own dna test on Ancestry, obviously there were matches there. I then uploaded my raw dna to Gedmatch.com  They have the test results from all the other dna testing companies, but only if the test holder has uploaded their dna sample to that site too.
I also uploaded my raw dna to the other free sites, FTDNA, my heritage, and dna land. All of these sites produce matches for you. Please be aware, Ancestry adds up their centimorgans one way, ftdna and my heritage another. So ftdna and my heritage will give a false closer match, ancestry is very accurate in saying what your relationship is. Gedmatch allows you to see what generation your shared common ancestor is, and has all sorts of chromosome browsers and things. Gedmatch seems to be the 'professional' genealogists choice of places to upload to and use to see if other people match you.
Good luck with it.

[marcie dean]

thanks tresarioi will try thrm first.

[brigidmac]

Thanks tresor I can't up/ download my Ancestry DNA to transfer results to gedthing but want to get it on all sites asap

[tresario]

Whys that brigidmac? Who did you test with?
Gedmatch seem to cover all treating sites from what I can see. Do  need a hand with it?
AncestryDNA kit numbers start with 'A'
23andMe kit numbers start with 'M'
Family Tree DNA kit numbers start with 'T'
MyHeritageDNA kit numbers start with 'H'
WeGene kit numbers start with 'W'
GenetiConcept kit numbers start with 'E'
Genes for Good kit numbers start with 'G'
Generic or custom kits start with 'Z'