Testing, Testing: My DNA Results from National Geographic's Geneographic Project

There weren't any surprises when I looked at the results from my Geno 2.0 Next Generation test: 99% European divided into 40% Northwestern Europe, 32% Southwestern Europe and 26% Eastern Europe. Their regions are larger and less well defined than those in my other tests but overall the results track with what I already knew based on my known pedigree and had confirmed by AncestryDNA and 23andMe. (Oh, and I'm 1.5% Neanderthal according to this test, less than predicted by 23andMe but still higher than the average of this test's 834,322 participants.*)

Through what they're calling "Genius Matches" I'm informed that I share direct maternal ancestors with the Italian renaissance poet Petrarch (perhaps as recently as 25,000 years ago) and Abraham Lincoln (maybe as far as 65,000 years back). What value does this information have to me? If it's intended to make me feel a closer connection to these two historic figures, it's not working.**

[Portrait of Francesco Petrarca from Wikimedia Commons]

Because I participated in Nat Geo's earlier mitochondrial DNA test I already knew that my maternal haplogroup is J1C2. Those of you who have still to find out their own*** may find the section explaining the development of the various haplogroups useful.

The major problem I have with this test is illustrated in this quote from the Project's FAQ in response to a query about the availability of the raw data:

For Geno 2.0 Next Gen Participants (but not Geno 2.0 Next Gen Helix co-branded kits) the raw analytical output from your DNA sample is available for purchase through our partner, Family Tree DNA. Go to My Profile, select the My Results tab and scroll down till you see Transfer my Results on the right hand side. 

For Geno 2.0 Next Gen Helix co-branded kit Participants, we are currently exploring options to be able to make this available to you.

As someone who used the Helix-branded kit not only can't I see my raw data now, it's clear from the first sentence above that if/when it will be available, I would have to pay extra for it.

In retrospect I'm not sure what I was expecting from this DNA test when I sent my little tube across town (literally, as Helix is a San Diego based company) but I'm underwhelmed by the results and looking around on the internet I see that I'm not alone.


*According to the website that's the number to date.
**I'm not sure whether I'm more irked than amused by these matches.
***To discover your haplogroup might be the only reason I would recommend this product to anyone.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My Father's Estimated Maternal and Paternal Haplogroups from 23andMe

My father's maternal and paternal haplogroups, according to 23andme.  They seem to be right in line with what I know of his maternal and paternal lines.

The maternal haplogroup is H1, the earliest known ancestor on Dad's maternal line being Ragnhild Olsdotter b 1726 in Sauda, Rogaland, Norway.

According to Wikipedia, this maternal haplogroup is found in approximately 41% of native Europeans, and for subclade H1:

Projected spatial frequency distribution of haplogroup H1
H1 encompasses an important fraction of Western European mtDNA lineages, reaching its local peak among contemporary Basques (27.8%). It also occurs at high frequencies elsewhere in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as in the Maghreb. The haplogroup frequency is above 10% in many other parts of Europe (France, Sardinia, parts of the British Isles, Alps, large portions of Eastern Europe), and above 5% in nearly all the continent.[1] Its subclade H1b is most common in eastern Europe and NW Siberia.[18]
So far, the highest frequency of H1 has been found among the Tuareg inhabiting the Fezzan region in Libya (61%).[19][20] The basal H1* haplogroup is found among the Tuareg inhabiting the Gossi area in Mali (4.76%).[21]
Ancient Guanche (Bimbapes) individuals excavated in Punta Azul, El Hierro, Canary Islands were all found to belong to the H1 maternal subclade. These locally born individuals were dated to the 10th century and carried the H1-16260 haplotype, which is exclusive to the Canary Islands and Algeria.[22]

The paternal haplogroup is R-L48, the earliest known ancestor on this line being Solomon Hartley b 1775 in "Pittsborough", Pennsylvania (of possible Dutch, German, or Polish ancestry).

According to a discussion on the FTDNA message board, R-L48 is largely from the Netherlands area, and also Poland, which is exactly where I'm hovering at concerning Solomon Hartley's general ethnicity anyway!



Family Tree DNA assigns my father the paternal haplogroup R-M269 instead of R-L48.  I'm not sure why the difference?  Haplogroup R-M269 is the most common European Y- chromosomal lineage, according to FTDNA.

I think this is a changing landscape, so these designations can possibly change somewhat as time goes on.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.