News from Family Tree DNA: "Big Y" Sequencing, Conference and Holiday Sale

Family Tree DNA's 9th Annual International Conference on Genetic Genealogy was held this past weekend in Houston. It was clear to those in attendance that, with the recent acquisition of Arpeggi, things are changing over at Gene by Gene. There has been an infusion of "new blood" into the company and with it has come new enthusiasm, resources and promise. The team was very open to hearing the community's needs and priorities, with the new staff listening in on our "roundtable" discussions where attendees were encouraged to share their ideas. As a result, they have promised the genetic genealogy community some of our most requested features in the near future.

Y-DNA Sequencing
These are exciting times for our Y-DNA citizen scientists! Following right on the heels of the delivery of the first results from Full Genomes, Family Tree DNA announced their new Big Y next gen sequencing product at the conference. Justin Petrone covered this development in his article in BioArray News yesterday as have a number of genetic genealogy bloggers.

In all of this excitement there has been a lot of discussion regarding what these competing products will and will not deliver. For the answers to many of these questions, we will have to wait until the first Big Y results start to be returned in approximately 10-12 weeks. However, one of the most pervasive concerns can be addressed now. 

Throughout the genetic genealogy community for the last couple of days, there has been speculation that Family Tree DNA's Big Y product will not include raw data downloads. I found this very difficult to believe with FTDNA's track record of transparency, so I asked Gene by Gene's new Chief Scientific Officer Dr. David Mittelman for clarification on this matter. He confirmed that, while the Big Y results will consist of SNP calls, the raw data will be available for those who want it - just as it is for the company's exome and whole genome products. He added, "We will want to set up some infrastructure to support downloading these big raw files and we will need to clarify for customers that our CSRs are obviously not able to offer advice or support on how to use them."  

I am relieved (although not surprised) to hear this, as I am sure many of you are. I appreciate Dr. Mittelman's quick response to my inquiry even though he was traveling.

The Big Y is being offered at a discount through November 30, 2013 for $495 and will increase to $695 after that. Previous "Walk Through the Y" customers will receive an additional $50 discount. (Various project admins have reported a lot of orders, so the offer appears to be a success already.)

Holiday Sale
The Family Tree DNA holiday sale has begun and is running through Dec 31st. Any customer whose order that includes a Family Finder autosomal DNA test will receive a $100 Restaurant.com gift certificate. This sale includes new orders, upgrades and 23andMe/AncestryDNA transfers:

• Y-37 for $119 (reg. $169)

• Y-67 for $189 (reg. $268)

• Y-111 for $289 (reg. $359)

• mtFull for $169 (reg. $199)

• Family Finder for $99  (includes a free $100 Restaurant.com gift certificate)

• Family Finder + Y-37 for $218 (reg. $268) inc. $100 Restaurant.com gift certificate

• Family Finder + Y- 67 for $288 (reg. $367) inc. $100 Restaurant.com gift certificate

• Family Finder + mtFull for $268 (reg. $298) inc. $100 Restaurant.com gift certificate

• Y-37 + mtFull for $288 (reg. $366)

• Y-67 + mtFull for $358 (reg. $457)

• Comprehensive for $457 (reg. $566) inc. $100 Restaurant.com gift certificate

• Autosomal DNA Transfer for $49 (Reg $69)

• Y-Refine 12 to 37 for $69 (reg. $109)

• Y-Refine 12 to 67 for $148 (reg. $319)

• Y-Refine 25 to 37 for $35 (reg. $59)

• Y-Refine 25 to 67 for $114 (reg. $59)

• Y-Refine 37 to 67 for $79 (reg. $109)

• Y-Refine 37 to 111 for $188 (reg. $220)

• Y-Refine 67 to 111 for $109 (reg. $129)

• mtHVR1 to Mega for $149 (reg. $169)

You can order here.

Conference Coverage
When I first started blogging the FTDNA conference, I was largely alone. Now with the excellent and thorough conference coverage by other bloggers and on Twitter, it is no longer necessary for me to give a blow-by-blow account here. Thanks to Debbie Kennett for compiling a comprehensive list of conference posts on her blog. 

Family Tree DNA Promotions Galore - Father's Day Y-DNA Upgrade Sale, AncestryDNA Transfers, mtDNA and DNA storage!

I am behind in blogging, in part, due to the Genetic Genealogy Conference that was just held last week (which I co-chaired), so I am going to be posting a few articles in quick succession. I hope it is not too much mail compared to what my subscribers are used to receiving!

First, Family Tree DNA has announced a number of wonderful promotions and price drops recently which are of great interest to our community. Two of these are very important promotions that will help us all get greater benefit from DNA tests that we have already taken, while the third is a great way to learn more about the deep ancestry of our direct maternal lines and to get out relatives DNA into storage for the future.

Father's Day Y-DNA Upgrade Sale
From June 12th-19th, FTDNA is reducing the price of Y-DNA upgrades, so if you took advantage of the recent price drop on Y-DNA 12 or if you need to clarify your current matches, now is the time to get that much needed resolution to your results.

Y-DNA 12 to 25        was $49             Now $35
Y-DNA 12 to 37        was $99             Now $69
Y-DNA 12 to 67        was $189           Now $148
Y-DNA 25 to 37        was $49             Now $35
Y-DNA 25 to 67        was $148           Now $114
Y-DNA 25 to 111      was $249           Now $224
Y-DNA 37 to 67        was $99             Now $79
Y-DNA 37 to 111       was $220          Now $188
Y-DNA 67 to 111       was $129          Now $109

To order an upgrade at these special prices your members can log into their personal pages with their kit number and password. Click on the "Order Upgrade" button located on the right side of the menu bar. Then click on the "Special Offers" button.

ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY 11:59pm, JUNE 19, 2013, TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICE. You can order here by logging into your account.

Family Tree DNA Accepting AncestryDNA Transfers for only $49!
The other terrific news that was announced at the conference last week is that Family Tree DNA is now accepting AncestryDNA raw data file imports in addition to the 23andMe raw data imports, both for only $49 (for a limited time).

The test is offered toward the bottom of their products list under "Autosomal DNA Transfer". The explanation on the site is as follows:

This option is available for men and women who have autosomal DNA results from a third party company that used the Illumina OmniExpress Plus Genotyping BeadChip, such as 23andMe© (known as the Relative Finder) and AncestryDNA™. You may use this option to upload your raw data to the Family Tree DNA Family Finder database to take advantage of features associated with the Family Finder product, such as relative matches and the Population Finder. This data transfer does not include any Y-DNA or mtDNA results from any company, nor does it involve the transfer of any physical DNA sample. 

The $49 Introductory fee will provide you with a Family Tree DNA personal page which will allow you to:

• View matches related within about the last 5 generations and predicted relationship ranges.*
• See percentages of your ancestral make-up from 62 world reference populations such as Native-American, Middle Eastern (including Jewish), African, West and East European.
• Confirm close relationships regardless of gender.
• Generate additional genealogical information..

Please note, uploaded files are batched once a week then run through the conversion program. Results take between 6-10 weeks based on volume. You will be notified by e-mail when your results are available. 

You can order here. Click on "Products" from the menu across the top and then scroll down to "Third Party >> "Autosomal DNA Transfer" (near the bottom).

mtDNAPlus (and DNA storage) for only $49
About a month ago, Family Tree DNA announced that they had reduced their mtDNAPlus (HVR1&2) test to only $49. This was the middle level test, so this is an incredible deal! Even if an mtDNA test is not your first choice for your genealogy research, this is a terrific way to get anyone's DNA in storage for at least 25 years for a very low price. You might wonder why this is important. With all of the new technology that will be developed in the future, we will all wish that we had our elderly relatives' DNA to test. If you go this route, be sure that the beneficiary field is filled out, so you can access the DNA in the future for additional testing if that person is no longer with us.

Here is the official press release about this development:

HOUSTON, May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Family Tree DNA, the genetic genealogy arm of Gene By Gene, Ltd., has lowered the price of its mid-level maternal line mtDNA test to $49, effective immediately.  The company announced it will offer its mtDNAPlus product at a two-third price reduction permanently, in just its latest step toward universal access by individuals to their personal genetic data. 
"This groundbreaking pricing illustrates how next generation sequencing (NGS) is changing the DNA testing landscape," Gene By Gene President Bennett Greenspan said.  "For Family Tree DNA to be able to offer this test at such an affordable price would have been unheard of before NGS.  We're hopeful that by lowering the price of products like our mtDNAPlus, we'll be able to expand the horizon of DNA testing and, importantly, grow our database to fuel future genetic discoveries."
Earlier this year, Family Tree DNA -- the world's largest processor of Y-DNA and full mitochondrial sequences -- dropped the price of its basic Y-DNA test for males by 60 percent, in order to eliminate cost as a barrier to individuals interested in learning more about their personal genetic and genomic data. 
Since then, the company has been working to do the same with its mtDNA test, which is applicable to both males and females and provides data on the direct maternal line by testing the mitochondria.  The mtDNAPlus product tests Hypervariable Regions 1 and 2, or HVR1 and HVR2, providing individuals with both anthropological and genealogical information. 
With the largest DNA database in the world, Family Tree DNA has processed over 5 million discrete tests for more than 700,000 individuals and organizations since it introduced its Y-DNA test in 2000.  Data gathered from the mtDNAPlus test will be stored, free of charge, in the company's database. If customers are interested in performing any other DNA tests that the company offers in the future, they won't be required to resubmit DNA samples.

Customer Inquiries
Individuals interested in Family Tree DNA's $49 mtDNA test, or any of its ancestral testing products, can visit Family Tree DNA or call (713) 868-1438 for more information.

What this means for us...
As a result of these promotions and price drops, we will all benefit from quickly expanding databases and more/better resolution matches. For those who transfer their data in from AncestryDNA, they will have access to the essential chromosome browser data and we will finally be able to see where our cousins from AncestryDNA match us!