PRA-L Archives

Archiver > PRA > 2003-12 > 1071597804


From: "Nicholas Penington" <>
Subject: Re: Major Change in Interpretation of the DNA Result for Group 28
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:09:33 -0500


Paul,
Thanks for your kind words but it is so interesting that it is not
work!
Regarding your comments about the statistics I understand what you
are saying but......mutations are very rare events and if one has allot of
them, the only way you can interpret them is to use statistics and
probability. Allot of mutations means a very distant common ancestor and
one cannot ignore that as I am sure you appreciate.
Anyone who could say that DNA is useless for genealogy must be a
Luddite! You know the guys who felt that any mechanization was not an
advance (because it put people out of work) and so all machines should be
destroyed! The DNA Study is working for us, there is no question. FTDNA do
not know how we are all related just that we are all Pen(n)ingtons. The
results they return are all spot on when relationships between the
participants were previously known to us -they agree with the DNA! There
is no way they can fake that. In addition, when some one is quite closely
related they have a small number of mutations between them in fast
mutating markers only.
Our illustrious leader G.W. Bush would not believe we had Saddam
until his DNA was typed. Incidentally they did the identity (paternity)
DNA test to compare with his sons (that result is unique to Saddam) in
addition they did the Y chromosome test to confirm he had the same
paternal lineage as his sons. Note that Saddam's Y chromosome will not be
unique in Iraq, there are probably hundreds if not thousands in Iraq and
around the world that are from the same paternal lineage as him. Nick.




"Paul Pennington" <>
12/16/2003 12:35 PM
Please respond to PRA-L


To:
cc:
Subject: Re: Major Change in Interpretation of the DNA Result for Group 28


Nick;

Thanks for the good news -- it makes a nice Christmas present for the
many members of Group 28. I'm sure everyone in PRA appreciates all the
behind-the-scenes work you do on the DNA project. We especially value
your
translating all this complex scientific information into something of
practical value in sorting out our family groups.

The science on DNA is very new, and PRA is among the first to use it
for
genealogical purposes. It should surprise no one that revisions and new
findings come along from time to time that force us to re-think our
conclusions.

I recently received an email from someone in another family who
claimed
that DNA testing was "absolutely worthless" for genealogy. I certainly do
not agree with that, but some caution is in order with the results.
Sometimes we forget that all this is based on random events -- mutations
over time. While the probability and statistics are useful averages when
considering large groups, individual mutations can occur at any time. The
DNA has no memory of the last time a mutation occurred.

I am glad to see that Family Tree DNA is asking for input from
families
like ours in an attempt to improve their knowledge of the rates of change
at
individual locations on the Y-chromosome.

Please accept a virtual pat on the back from all of us for your
efforts.

Paul A. Pennington
Augusta, Georgia
Group 28 Leader


==== PRA Mailing List ====
==== PENNINGTON RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ====
To submit a query, go to
www.penningtonresearch.org and
click on "Submit Query" button.




This thread: