GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

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Subject: [DNA] Archives / best company
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 00:02:59 EDT

In a message dated 10/09/01 7:37:23 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:


> First, how does one access the archives for this list? Some of the
> information that I want may be in the past messages and I hate to bother you
>

There are links to an interactive search and to the threaded archives at

http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Miscellaneous/GENEALOGY-DNA.html

The search method will let you enter key words and search a year's worth of
messages at once. The threaded archives will display a month's worth of
messages at once, with subject headings. (That's why it's important to make
your subject lines descriptive of the contents!) Unfortunately, the threaded
archives are not current, although messages are being stored and will
eventually appear. Right now they stop in early September.


>
> Second, what do people think is the best company to use for mtDNA and Y
> chromosome analysis and why? I want to get it done but am unsure who to
> use. Also, is there a way to tell the concordance between the results given
> by one company and that by another?

There are two major companies at the moment, http://www.oxfordancestors.com
in England and http://www.familytreedna.com in the USA. Both companies are
well regarded. They both use DNA samples from cheek swabs, which can be sent
through regular mail.

Both companies sequence the same region of mtDNA and tell you exactly where
you differ from the Cambridge Reference Sequence. Bryan Sykes of Oxford
Ancestors is one of the world's leading experts on mtDNA, and Oxford
Ancestors has a fancier report with diagrams and descriptions of the major
"clans" or haplogroups. Family Tree DNA keeps a database of results and will
inform you if another person matches your haplotype (if both parties have
agreed). FTDNA also has a special Native American report, but I'm not sure
that it actually tells you anything beyond the broad haplogroup, which would
also be available from Oxford Ancestors. We haven't seen any examples so far!

For the Y chromosome tests, each company has selected different STR markers.
There is some overlap, but it's really not possible to compare complete
results from the two companies. OA tests 10 markers and FTDNA tests 12
markers, with plans to add more. All of Oxford Ancestors markers are public
domain. FTDNA has a mix of public domain and proprietary markers, and uses
its own non-standard numerical system for reporting results (with conversion
tables for public domain markers).

In general, the more markers, the better chance you will have of being able
to define branches of the family tree, but 10 is quite sufficient to decide
if two people match or not. However, some markers may be more informative
than others, so you can't automatically assume that 12 is better than 10. We
just don't have good data on that yet. FTDNA keeps a database of results, but
OA does not. Some people like the idea of a database for matching and others
don't.

Both companies offer discounts for groups, so you'll have to check their web
sites for prices for your project. In general, OA seems to be somewhat less
expensive. They also seem to be somewhat slower and less responsive to
questions, probably due to a large number of orders after publication of
Bryan Sykes' book "The Seven Daughters of Eve." That book is a "must read,"
by the way, no matter which company you choose!

Bottom line: each company has a somewhat different approach, but either one
should be quite satisfactory.

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