What's New?

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Where is your DNA?  I don't mean in your genes; I mean where have you tested and/or uploaded your raw data files?  

Have you looked at your profile lately?  Testing companies are making changes to their platforms, refining features and adding new ones.


FtDNA

July 1, 2021, Family Tree DNA rolled out several changes to their site.  There is a new look to the Family Finder match page, designed to make easier searching, sorting and filtering your matches.  

FtDNA reports that they have made several adjustments to the matching algorithm for more accurately predicted relationship ranges.

There is a new Help Button and, coming soon, is a Chromosome Painter.  Check out the features at the site below.

Updates To Matches & Chromosome Painter | FamilyTreeDNA Blog

When I received the email notice of these changes I immediately thought of doing this blog.  Then the next day I saw that it was the topic for a blog written by Judy G. Russell, the Legal Genealogist.  Judy did a much more complete job than I would have so I'll simply give you the link to her blog.

Time for FTDNA’s change | The Legal Genealogist [1]


My Heritage

At My Heritage you should go to the Knowledge Base link where you can learn more about features such as:

  • Theories of Family Relativity
  • Chromosome Browser
  • Auto Clusters
  • Ethnicity Map
I recently discovered that I could sort my matches by ethnicity.  


MaryLynn Strickland's ethnic breakdown at My Heritage


I don't think I'll try to contact all of my Scandinavian or English matches, but I might look at the Finnish if I am searching for someone in particular.





Ancestry

Have you checked your matches at Ancestry lately?  Notice the "Do you recognize them?" on the far right of your match?  You have the opportunity to identify the people you recognize and assign them to paternal or maternal side of the family.





Another feature at Ancestry DNA is Traits.  Have you answered the Traits survey?  I did some months ago and didn't think too much more about it.  I recently discovered that I can now find out more about myself based on common traits for my type of DNA.  




I was not too surprised to learn my coffee consumption is about average, based on my DNA.




MaryLynn's Caffeine Trait


Geneanet

https://en.geneanet.org/genealogyblog

I discovered the blog link for Geneanet and news about a Consistency Checker for my family tree.  I ran it and found only about 33 "errors".  I need to look at each  one of these and make corrections as needed.  Of course, not all items are errors.  One in particular stated that the children were too close in age to be correct.  It turns out that they were both adopted so their ages were correct and I could mark the listing so it won't show up again.




23andMe

23andMe is often ranked first in the regional and country matching aspect of consumer DNA testing. According to Wikipedia, "In February 2018, 23andMe announced that its ancestry reporting would tell people what country they were from, not just what region, and increased the number of regions by 120". A unique feature of their Ancestry Composition Chromosome Painting is the ability to download segment data, which may help in narrowing down mystery matches. See an example below.

Valorie Zimmerman's Scandanavian segments

23andMe participates in the African Genetics Program,  in their the Global Genetics Program, announced in February 2018. Again according to Wikipedia, "this program aims to increase the genomic data of 61 underrepresented countries in their database by providing free tests to individuals that have all 4 grandparents from one of the countries. In April 2018, 23andMe announced the Populations Collaboration Program, which sets up formal collaborations between the company and researchers that are investigating underrepresented countries." Zhang, Sarah. "23andMe Wants Its DNA Data to Be Less White", The Atlantic, April 23, 2018.

According to their blog, "Since October 1, 2020, the company offers a new service called 23andMe+, priced at $29/year, for the customers of the "Health + Ancestry" service, who completed genotyping on version 5 of the microarray chip used by the company. The new service makes available additional reports on health and pharmacogenetics, and commits to provide ongoing new reports and features." - "23andMe+: An ongoing approach to your genetics". October 1, 2020.


[1] Judy G. Russell, “Time for FTDNA’s change,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 4 July 2021)





MaryLynn Strickland and Valorie Zimmerman



Comments

  1. ValorieOctober 4, 2021 at 2:49 PM

    Free webinar: New tools for DNA Matches research. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BBHrZn-PQ0

    ReplyDelete

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