DNA Testing Continues . . .

This past November I received the results of my DNA test with Ancestry.com. At the time I was excited and enthralled, but realized there was still much more to the story. If you remember, Ancestry DNA gave results of 48% Western Europe, 24% Great Britain, 20% Ireland, 4% Iberian Peninsula and 4% Scandinavia. All very tidy and nice – 100% European. I felt there had to be more to the answer of my DNA inheritance. Someone suggested I go to gedmatch.com (Tools for DNA and Genealogy Research) and upload my DNA file from Ancestry. It was easy to download the file from the Ancestry website to my computer, then upload to gedmatch.com. You can also upload your gedcom files to share research with others.

The ‘Analyze Your Data’ box is wonderful. It gives many ways to compare your file to others and get matches of people who share some of your DNA and who are probably on your family tree. My favorite is Admixture Proportions, which will show you percentages on each of your 22 chromosomes of the populations in each test. One that I have used is the Eurogenes K36 Admixture Proportion. Your DNA is matched with 36 areas of the world and given percentages for each chromosome. Of the 36 possible areas, I was given information on 28. Since you have 22 chromosomes, and each is 100%, you have to divide your total population by 22 to get a correct percentage for each area. For example, the North Sea area was my highest total percentage, 419.40%. Divided by 22, 19% of my total DNA makeup, according to this proportion, is North Sea. Each chromosome and percentage of North Sea DNA is listed below:

• 1 – 27.3%
• 2 – 22.2%
• 3 – 15.4%
• 4 – 5.4%
• 5 – 22%
• 6 – 0%
• 7 – 22%
• 8 – 37.5%
• 9 – 17.4%
• 10 – 16%
• 11 – 21.9%
• 12 – 11.5%
• 13 – 30.1%
• 14 – 42.7%
• 15 – 2%
• 16 – 28.1%
• 17 – 5.1%
• 18 – 27.2%
• 19 – 11.4%
• 20 – 5.2%
• 21 – 22.2%
• 22 – 26.8%

One of my questions is why is there 42.7% North Sea in chromosome 14 and 0% is chromosome 6? What is different between these two chromosomes? Is it the luck of the draw, or does chromosome 6 take DNA from only a particular part of a single heritage?

The list of K36 proportions from my DNA  – (I copied the information to an excel spreadsheet and sorted it by largest percentage. In the original report it is alphabetical by area.):

• North Sea – 19%
• North Atlantic – 16.4%
• Iberian – 10%
• French – 9.4%
• Italian – 8%
• Eastern Europe – 7%
• Fennoscandian – 7%
• Central Europe – 6.6%
• Basque – 3%
• East Central Europe – 3%
• East Balkan – 2%
• Armenian – 2%
• North Caucasian – 1%
• West Caucasian – 1%
• West Mediterranean – 1%
• Volga-Ural – 0.59%
• Arabian – 0.5%
• Amerindian – 0.5%
• Near Eastern – 0.23%
• South Central Asian – 0.2%
• East Mediterranean – 0.2%
• Oceanian – 0.2%
• South Asian – 0.15%
• Malayan – 0.1%
• North African – 0.095%
• Pygmy – 0.045%
• Omotic – 0.04%
• Siberian – 0.03%
• Central African – 0%
• East African – 0%
• East Asian – 0%
• East Central Asian – 0%
• Indo-Chinese – 0%
• Northeast Africa – 0%
• South Chinese – 0%
• West Africa – 0%

Being the visual person that I am, I brought out my world map and plotted the above areas according to colored pins associated with a higher or lower percentage. I can now easily see the areas of the world from which my ancestors came to make the unique individual that is myself!

Europe, Scandinavia, West Asia, North Africa

Malayan and Oceanian

Color-coded Legend

You can also do chromosome painting with any of the proportions – which gives a colorful rendition of the mixture of DNA within each chromosome.  This is my chromosome 1 from the K13 proportion.  The colors are a bit muted from the printing and scanning – it’s a beautiful presentation on your computer.

Another interesting admixture is the MDLP K23b proportions. This is a pie chart showing heritage divided into zones, with some labeled as early farmers and hunters/gatherers. I’m not sure what part of the DNA gives this information, but it is another part of our makeup.

You can compare one kit to another – this is the term used for your uploaded DNA file – or one kit to many. There is an Admixture/Oracle with Population Search, a 3D Chromosome Browser, Phasing – which compares DNA from mother, father and children.

Another very interesting comparison is the Archaic DNA matches – that matches your DNA with ancient DNA segments that have been pulled from people who lived many years ago. For example, one of the samples was from a female from Stuttgart, Germany, who lived about 7,500 years ago. I am a strong match with this person. Does it mean I really descended from her? Possibly, but it means I have many of the same DNA characteristics. Another is a male from Ust-Ishim, Siberia, who lived about 45,000 years ago.  I have plotted these matches with a black pin on my world map.

Montana, male who lived 12,500 years ago.  Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland, male who lived 4,000 years ago.

I have not begun to look at all the charts and proportions available on this website. But the little I have has made me an avid DNA enthusiast who wants to learn more about this fascinating subject!