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From: "James V. Elliott" <>
Subject: RE: [DNA] RE: Amazing article about genetics -- please help
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 09:17:17 -0400 (GMT-04:00)


List,

I infer from this thread that there are simply not enough genes in the human genetic code for every possible ancestor to be represented past 15 generations. Is it not also possible that the genetic legacy, not only of single ancestors, but of whole ancestral groups could likewise be dropped or disproportionately excluded from one's genetic make-up? That could explain why the results of autosomal DNA tests don't match the known (or at least assumed) genealogies of many individuals. Even if you had an atDNA test that was 100 percent accurate, it would merely reflect the distorted picture of one's actual genealogy that results from random gene recombination - and therefore make the people who took it think it was not accurate at all. It could also explain why siblings, not to mention parents and children, can get substantially different results on DNA Print tests, Euro DNA tests and DNA Tribes tests. The ultimate imprecision - at least as to how our "deep ancestry" is r!
ecorded - may lie not in the tests, but in ourselves.

Jim Elliott

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