Genetic Genealogy News from FinnFest

I attended several interesting genetic genealogy presentations at FinnFest yesterday. Some of the information was brand new to me and may be to you too.

Jane Buck from FTDNA treated us to an entertaining lecture that included a few interesting tidbits:

1, FTDNA currently uses 62 subpopulation reference samples for Population Finder. Every time they update Population Finder with a new reference sample, they will rerun every customer's results.
2. FTDNA removes SNPs that have medical relevance from Family Finder raw data, but they do utilize them for matching purposes.
3. Customers of National Geographic who transfer their results to FTDNA receive a reduced rate on upgrades for 15 days following the transfer. (The transfer is free.)
4. As of August 12th, FTDNA has 343,022 unique DNA records, 102,880 distinct surnames and ~6,500 surname projects.
5. FTDNA will be partnering with Elise Friedman's Relative Roots to offer genetic genealogy webinars.

Project Administrator Lauri Koskinen shared the findings from the Finland DNA Project:

1. There are 2,494 Finns in the project, making it the third largest geographical project at FTDNA. (The Polish Project is gaining fast, currently at 2,320!)
2. There are 250 Finns in the Family Finder database.
3. In the Finland DNA Project, Y-DNA results are as follows:
Haplogroup N = ~60%, male lines migrated from the East to Finland
Haplogroup I1 = ~30%, male lines migrated from the West to Finland
Haplogroup R1a = ~3%, male lines migrated from Slavic areas to Finland (common in Germany and Sweden)
Haplogroup R1b = ~3%, male lines migrated from Middle and Southern Europe to Finland
Haplogroups E, J, Q = ~3%, male lines migrated from the Middle East and Asia to Finland
It is interesting to note that Hungary does not have a significant number of males with Y-Haplogroup N, therefore the majority of Finnish Y-DNA lines did not come from that area even though the Finnish language shares an origin with the Hungarian language. (Hungary has mainly Slavic Y-DNA.)

4. In the Finland DNA Project, mtDNA results are as follows:
Haplogroup H = ~40%, female lines from European source
Haplogroup U = ~30%, female lines, including the Saami type (U5b1)
Haplogroups D, I, J, HV, R, T, V, W, X, Z = less than 10%
Worldwide Haplogroup X = 1.4%, Worldwide Haplogroup W = 1.6%. In Finland these run 3%-5% in some areas. The only other known hot spot for Haplgroup W is the Himalayas.
Lauri interprets the breakdown of the mtDNA haplogroups above to mean that most of the men who migrated from the east to the area that is now Finland did not bring wives with them, but rather married European women and Saami women enroute and/or when they arrived.
5. Currently 40%-50% of all members of the Finland DNA Project with Full Sequence mtDNA results have found matches.

I will try to post the slides from my panel presentation "The Unique Finnish DNA" tomorrow.

[Disclosure - My company StudioINTV has an existing production agreement with FTDNA that has no bearing on the opinions I express. I also receive a small commission from FTDNA on non-sale orders through my affiliate link, which I use to fund DNA tests. I receive no other compensation in relation to any of the companies or products referenced in my blog.]

FTDNA Now Accepting Y-DNA Third Party Results

Yesterday, Family Tree DNA announced the launch of a new feature: Y-DNA Third Party uploads.

This will allow for the upload of 33 and 46-marker Y-DNA test results from Ancestry.com,  GeneTree and Sorenson's SMGF.  FTDNA explains in their August 5th press release, "This comes as a natural development since the necessary tools were created to import the customer database it recently acquired from DNA Heritage after that company ceased its operations." Since DNA testing for Ancestry.com, Genetree and SMGF all use the same lab that DNA Heritage did, it is logical to include these other companies in this long-wished-for new service.

This is great news for Y-DNA Surname Projects administrators and their participants and should help us all to further our research goals and break down those genealogical brickwalls!

More information from the press release:

Family Tree DNA will be charging a nominal fee of $19 to import third party results into its database. This $19 fee will be credited to customers who later order upgrades or add-ons. For an additional $39, customers who transfer their third party results will also have additional markers tested so that they can receive matches to Family Tree DNA's 25 or 37-marker level, ancestral origins, and other features of the personal page.

The $19 fee will provide the customer with a Family Tree DNA personal page which will allow them to join Family Tree DNA projects. This means that results will be available to the administrator and included on the project's public page for comparison with other project members.

The $58 fee ($19 transfer fee + $39 for the added markers to Family Tree DNA's 25 or 37-marker level) will include the same features provided to Family Tree DNA customers in their personal pages, including matches and Haplogroup prediction.

From FTDNA's FAQs:

Transfer options are:

Option	Price	Project Membership	Database Matching	Haplogroup Prediction
Transfer Y-DNA33	$19	Yes	No	No
Transfer Y-DNA46	$19	Yes	No	No
Transfer Y-DNA33 + Y-DNA25*	$58	Yes	Yes	Yes
Transfer Y-DNA46 + Y-DNA37*	$58	Yes	Yes	Yes

* If you upgrade after ordering a basic transfer, the cost will be $49 US.

For any additional questions, please refer to FTDNA’s FAQs.
To order your transfer, please go here.

[Disclosure - My company StudioINTV has an existing production agreement with FTDNA that has no bearing on the opinions I express. I also receive a small commission from FTDNA on non-sale orders through my affiliate link, which I use to fund DNA tests. I receive no other compensation in relation to any of the companies or products referenced in my blog.]

23andMe Friends and Family Coupon - XNFYRG

Friends and Family Coupon

Get your friends and family on board with this $50 coupon.  Share it with as many people as you like, but remember  that this coupon expires in 7 days (August 9, 2011). Have fun! The 23andMe Team To use this coupon, visit our online store and add an order  to your cart. Click "I have a discount code" and enter the  code below. (That's $49 upfront + $9/month for a minimum of  12 months or $157 for a prepaid one year subscription) $50 Off Coupon code: XNFYRG Share with your friends! (Valid for new customers only)

FTDNA offers great discounts for FinnFest

FTDNA has kindly offered special prices for FinnFest 2011 and Finnish DNA Project members.

The coupon code reduces Y DNA 67, mtDNA Full Sequence and Family Finder to a price of $193 each as well as the specials listed below:

Comprehensive Genome, $591  (normally $837)
Super DNA, $392  (normally $548)
Y-DNA 67 + Family Finder $193 x 2= $386  (normally $558)
mtDNA FullSequence + Family Finder, $392  (normally $559)
Y DNA 67, $193  (normally $268)
mtDNAFullSequence, $193  (normally $299)
Family Finder, $193  (normally $289)
(not including $4 domestic and $6 international shipping)

These are really great discounts!

The Coupon Code is valid until 31st of August for all new orders here as well as for subsequent orders from "Order tests & Upgrades" link. You can get the coupon code by stopping by FTDNA's booth at FinnFest August 10th-14th.

[Disclosure - My company StudioINTV has an existing production agreement with FTDNA that has no bearing on the opinions I express. I also receive a small commission from FTDNA on non-sale orders through my affiliate link, which I use to fund DNA tests. I receive no other compensation in relation to any of the companies or products referenced in my blog.]

"Your Genetic Genealogist" discussing DNA at FinnFest 2011

Finnfest 2011 will be rolling into San Diego from August 10-14. There is a full schedule of genealogy lectures, panel discussions and workshops detailed here, including a panel discussion moderated by "yours truly" exploring the application of genetic testing to Finnish genealogy. Participating are University of Turku Professor Auvo Kostianinen, FTDNA's Jane Buck, founder and administrator of the Finland DNA Project Lauri Koskinen, and retired MD and genetic genealogy enthusiast Paula Erkkilä.

If you are in the area, please come by. I would love to see my many Finnish genetic cousins and friends.

Known Relative Studies with 23andMe: More Second Cousin Comparisons

Since my last post on second cousin comparisons at 23andMe was so popular, I have decided to expand on it. Another second cousin of mine recently tested at 23andMe. As a result, I have many more relevant comparisons to share with my readers. This cousin is also from my mother's family, but not on her Finnish side. Our common ancestral couple is Daniel Hewitt and Amelia (Travis) Proctor, my great grandparents. Daniel was born in 1866 in Equality, Illinois and Amelia "Millie" was born in 1870 in Sidney, Iowa.

Again, this is a great example of the random nature of autosomal DNA inheritance. My two sisters share 2.56% and 2.98% of their DNA with our Proctor second cousin, while I only share 1.07% of my DNA with this cousin. (The expected percentage of shared DNA with a second cousin would be an average of 3.125%.) Our unique patterns of inheritance can be clearly seen in the chart below. The long gray bars are representative of the 23 chromosomes and the shorter colored blocks signify the shared DNA between each person tested and our Proctor cousin. (For example, toward the end of Chromosome 1, Sister #1 and Sister #3 share the same small stretch of DNA with our Proctor cousin, but Sister #2 does not share any DNA with this cousin until Chromosome 5.)

Click on chart to enlarge

You can really see here that we inherited very diverse blocks of our Proctor great grandparents' DNA. One of  my sisters inherited almost two and a half times more of this "Proctor" DNA than I did, while my other sister inherited nearly three times more than I did. In fact, 23andMe predicts that we are only third cousins, but correctly predicts both of my sisters' relationships to this second cousin.

From this comparison, it would appear that my sisters ended up with significantly more DNA from our Proctor great grandparents than I did. However, since this chart really just illuminates the shared Proctor DNA with this particular cousin, it could be that my sisters happened to inherit much of the same DNA from Dan and Millie that our cousin did and I inherited almost entirely different blocks. To be sure, I would need to test more cousins descended from these ancestors to see if my comparatively low percentage of sharing continues.

This chart shows how my mother compares to her Proctor first cousin once removed (4.56%) and the DNA inheritance patterns of two of us daughters. You can see that the DNA was passed on quite differently to each with only three small areas of overlap between all three.

The chart below shows that my mother's sister inherited significantly more DNA in common with their Proctor first cousin once removed than my mother did: 4.56% vs. 8.55%.

Based on this, it isn't surprising that my aunt's two daughters in the chart below share much more DNA with this cousin than my sisters and I do (#1 = 4.49% and #2 = 4.69%) and with much larger areas of overlap between the three.

It is always interesting to me to see the inheritance pattern as the DNA is passed through the generations. The following charts demonstrate this with each comparing three successive generations to our Proctor cousin.

Lastly, the third generations in the charts above are second cousins once removed from this Proctor cousin. In the charts below, you can see, once again, that the amounts of common DNA inherited at this level of cousinship vary widely with very little overlap. (The only difference between the following two charts is the dark blue comparisons.)

The percentages of DNA in common for the second cousins once removed in this study were 2.91%, 1.22%, .76% and .33% (expected average = 1.563%). For second cousins, the percentages were 4.69%, 4.49%, 2.98%, 2.56% and 1.07% (expected average = 3.125%).

Dan and Millie Proctor (it's their DNA!)

FTDNA Sale starts tonight!

FTDNA  just announced their summer sale for new customers, including Family Finder upgrades for existing customers. The sale has started and continues through July 21.

• Y-DNA37 for $119 (Regular price would be $149)
• Y-DNA67 for $199 (Regular price would be $239)
• Family Finder for $199 (Regular price would be $289)
• Family Finder + Y-DNA37 for $318 (Regular price would be $438)
• Family Finder + mtDNAPlus for $318 (Regular Price would be $438)
• mtDNA Full Sequence for $219 (Regular Price would be $299)
• SuperDNA for $418 (Regular Price would be $518, includes Y-DNA67 and mtFullSequence)
• Comprehensive Genome for $617 (Regular Price would be $797, includes Y-DNA67, mtFullSequence and Family Finder)

In addition, existing Family Tree DNA customers may order the Family Finder add-on for $199. The promotion will start today, Friday the 15th at 6PM CST and will end Thursday, July 21, 11:59PM CST. Kits need to be paid for by the end of the promotion. You can order here.
  
[Disclosure - My company StudioINTV has an existing production agreement with FTDNA that has no bearing on the opinions I express. I also receive a small commission from FTDNA on non-sale orders through my affiliate link, which I use to fund DNA tests. I receive no other compensation in relation to any of the companies or products referenced in my blog.]