The Genetic Genealogist

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I want to thank Blaine at The Genetic Genealogist for mentioning me in his latest post.  I'd like to take a moment to explain how this all happened.  About a year ago I spent probably more then I should have for a Y-DNA and mtDNA test at Family Tree DNA.  Four weeks later the result said my Y-DNA haplogroup was E3b.  Family Tree DNA came back to me and said "hey, for another $100 we can resolve your haplogroup further with a Deep SNP test."  Having no clue what a Deep SNP test was, I said "sure" and gave them my credit card number one more time.  I'm probably the easiest mark in the genealogy world...all someone has to do is say they have a cool new genealogy product and I'll buy it.   

It took Family Tree DNA about a year to get me the results of this mysterious Deep SNP test.  I emailed them every month or so for a status, and they kept telling me there was some problem (which didn't make any sense to me), but they expected the results soon - of course in every email they apologized for the delay. 

After awhile I just forgot about it.  Then, a few weeks ago, I got a notice telling me my results were in.  I excitedly logged on to the site expecting to get detailed information on my genetic history, but instead I saw that my Deep SNP test resolved to E3b2b and they listed "tests" that said M183+ m35+ M81+ and so on - that was it.  This was all well and good, but I wanted to know what all of this means.  I rummaged around the site looking for an explanation, and all I found were scientific papers written in a language this history major could not understand at all.  I even Googled the results and got links back to the same papers I found on the Family Tree DNA website.

Then I remembered that Jasia at the Creative Gene asked Blaine some questions about DNA testing, and he responded with an answer that appeared to clear things up for her.  So I decided to send him an email to see if he could clear things up for me the same way he had for Jasia.  To make a long story just a little bit longer, Blaine wrote back a few days later and explained precisely what a Deep SNP test is, showed me what each of those numbers mean, and discussed how they relate to where my family originated.  Now I can't say I completely understand everything about this whole process, but his explanation was what I expected I would get from the testing company.  Thank goodness we have a Genetic Genealogist in our blogging community.

Comments

[ds]

Tim,

since you are an E3b, have you joined the worldwide E3b Project?

This is the best place to (a) reconnect with far relatives who carry another surname, i.e., your common ancestor with them lived before the introduction of surnames, and (b) by having as many E3bs as possible in one place, to understand E3b's ancient migration history.

Everyone who tested with FT-DNA, please join by clicking on "Request to Join the Group" in the upper left corner:

http://www.ftdna.com/public/E3b/index.aspx?fixed_columns=on
(use Firefox)

and everyone else who tested with any other company, please join here:

http://www.haplozone.net/e3b/project/signup

Two more things:
- everyone is welcome to join the discussions in the Haplozone area of the E3b Project:

http://community.haplozone.net/

- and, everyone, who has tested via the Genographic Project, please transfer your results to FT-DNA: log into your account at National Geographic, go to the section at the bottom of the page labeled "What else can I do with my results?" and click on the "Learn More" Link to follow the simple instructions to transfer your results to FamilyTreeDNA. Then please join appropriate surname, geographic, and haplogroup projects.

Thanks, Dirk

[Tim Agazio]

Susan,

I'm happy with the results I got after they were explained to me in English. The point of the post was that DNA testing companies don't do a very good job of making test results understandable. They throw out all of this genetics mumbo-jumbo and leave it to the customer to try to figure out what it all means. It wasn't a scam...it just appears to me that there wasn't a whole lot of effort put into the explanation.

[susan]

hello- so, i am not sure i get it... did you get definitive results from your dna testing? or is there a scam to get us to pay more money each time?

[Tim Agazio]

Jasia, "link love" I've never heard it phrased quite that way before - but I like it!

[Jasia]

Amen Tim! Blaine is the best. He really should write a book, don't you think? He's so good about making all the mysterious DNA stuff understandable.

And thanks for the link Tim, link love is always appreciated!

[Blaine]

You're welcome Tim. This is what I live for, after all! I'm always happy to answer questions about Genetic Genealogy, especially when I can share it with my readers. So feel free to ask away!