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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2005-05 > 1115076180


From:
Subject: Re: [DNA] Newbie: National Geographic, Relative Genetics, DNA Heritage,Family...
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 19:23:00 EDT



In a message dated 5/2/2005 7:07:32 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
writes:

With all these options and avenues available as of today, what would you
advise a Newbie to do?



Dear Robert:

It is my experience that ALL of the test providers will give you quality
results. I administer two surname projects and accept participants from any and
all testing companies. Phil Goff's chart is a good start on an analysis of
the providers, but it isn't a complete picture.

First, I checked at _www.worldfamilies.net_ (http://www.worldfamilies.net)
and there is no record of a BIRNBACH Surname Project (although I believe that
while this is THE most comprehensive list available on the net, it is not
100% inclusive as not all testing firms have provided a list of the surnames
listed in their databases). So another question you face is whether you wish to
start a BIRNBACH Surname Study. As others have noted, if you are looking
for genealogical connections, you will need to compare your results against
other BIRNBACHs. Worldfamilies has some suggestions about how to go about that.

In my opinion, chioce of provider very much depends on what your goals are.
If you simply want to get a complete picture of your OWN haplogroup for
Y-DNA and mitogroup for mtDNA, the NGS project should be fine, although as Ken
points out, identifying some haplogroups (or rather sub-haplogroups), depends
on markers not included in that kit, which means either purchase elsewhere
or purchase of additional markers.

What I wished to emphasize is that if you wish to eventually have other
BIRNBACHs to compare against, the INTIAL "most cost effective" is NOT the "LONG
RUN" most cost effective combination of purchases. How many markers you will
need for comparisons against others will depend on the stability of your
surname group -- For instance I have WEBBs who have almost no mutations within 37
markers, making "sorting them out" require more markers, whereas another WEBB
group has enough mutational patterns in 25 markers that it's fairly easy to
sort them into sub-lineages.

There are today, 50 available "markers," the term used to designate specific
locations on the 23rd pair of chromosomes. Most of these are available from
any of the major providers. Some of these are available only from one
provider. One of these DYS425, has a value of "12" for almost every man in the
world, so it is rarely used -- Oxford Ancestors is currently the only provider
that I know of that analyzes it. My Projects will NOT purchase this marker
unless we get 49/49 matches and are desperate (although we hope some newer
markers will be available cause that is SUCH a long shot!).

The least expensive route to a total of 50 markers, with the most
information, should they be needed, is currently the following:

1. Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) 37 marker kit (includes a pair of markers ONLY
available from
FTDNA) 2. DNAH 23 "cafeteria style" kit -- order the 11 markers that
DNAH offers that
FTDNA does not and whichever other 12 you want to "double-check."
3. Biotix's 385(K) test & DYS643 (only available from them)
4. Oxford Ancestors 10 marker test to get 425 (although we have not gone to
this step)

Another path (only to 46 markers) is this
1. DNAH 43
2. Biotix -- 3 of the 5 markers FTDNA offers that DNA does not & DYS 643
and 385(K)

The above also depends on having a BATCH for Biotix which permits you to
take their batch discounts (number of orders and number of orders in the same
surname/regional group). Biotix offers some of the FTDNA markers, and some of
the DNAH, and if you get in a large enough batch it is THE least expensive
kit in the 23-28 marker range.

FTDNA and Biotix store your DNA, which means that if you wish to add another
test, additional markers etc. you need not submit another sample.

As to the newer markers, while there has been some discussion on this list,
no provider has yet, to my knowledge, announced any of them will be available.

I have NOT compared long run total costs for Y-DNA and mtDNA combinations,
but for mtDNA you will also want to consider the availability of
high-resolution versus low resolution tests, and my current understanding is that FTDNA or
Biotix provide the widest mtDNA coverage at the moment. Low resolution will
certainly identify your mitogroup, and high resolution mtDNA is not favored
by many for genealogical purposes as mtDNA mutates more slowly. The down
side of this is we may never know how useful it could be until more folks get
high resolution tests and people with matches start tracking their lineages
back to see if they end up in a small geographic area at a given time.

I have some comparison charts (which need updating and consolidating)
showing which markers are offered by each company, the prices, etc.For Y-DNA.
Clearly I need to add the mtDNA and mtDNA/Y-DNA combination information.
However, if you wish them "as is" to do your own comparison, email me offlist.

Anne



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