The DNA Hoax by Ancestry dot com...

[imalickin]

DNA, have we come to the point that a simple saliva swab can be turned into a percentage map of your racial makeup?

Genetic Ancestry Tests Mostly Hype, Scientists Say

It would seem not, according to Deborah Bolnick of the University of Texas in Austin.

What led me to think not was one of Ancestry.com's commercials where the woman says she sent in her DNA and it came back the she was 26% Native American and she had no idea. My question is, is she stupid or was she adopted? If she knew both parents, which the commercial doesn't say, she would have known as she gets half of each parents DNA, which means that either one parent was 52% Native American or both parents were 26% Native American. She should have had a clue.

If she was adopted these test can only tell her about her distant ancestry, not about her mother or father and where they are from.

Most geneticists will tell you to save your money, because you won't really learn anything useful about your recent ancestry. Only about your distant ancestry.

 

[KarenB59]

I did it several years ago. Mainly to verify what i was told all my life about where my ancestors came from. I've been told my maternal gg grandfather was Cherokee. No Native American showed up so either there was't enough to show or some where along the line one of my ancestors lied.

My ancestors did come from England, Scotland and Ireland though.Which I was always told too. I think most people have it done to find information about distant ancestors anyway. If you're into researching family trees that does give you a window about where to possibly search.

 

[JeanLaFlu]

The DNA Hoax by Ancestry dot com...

Shhhhhhhhhhhh...

A number of unicorn fart snorters here swear by that crap.

Ain't that right, touby?

 

[Not Normal]

There can be a number of reasons why people don't know or have mis information of what's in their genetic pool. As mentioned adoption is a big one. Legend is also big. What starts as a story, turns into belief and then "fact" as its passed down generations, even if the origin is meant to pull someone's leg.

My question, when I see those commercials is always, why the fuck do I care?

 

[butters]

I did it several years ago. Mainly to verify what i was told all my life about where my ancestors came from. I've been told my maternal gg grandfather was Cherokee. No Native American showed up so either there was't enough to show or some where along the line one of my ancestors lied.

My ancestors did come from England, Scotland and Ireland though.Which I was always told too. I think most people have it done to find information about distant ancestors anyway. If you're into researching family trees that does give you a window about where to possibly search.

Most genetic ancestry tests involve the analysis of small snippets of DNA passed down only through the mother, or only through the father. These tests can identify related individuals who share a common maternal or paternal ancestor, and even where in the world people with your genetic signature live today.
...

One problem with this approach, scientists say, is that because such tests analyze less than 1 percent of a person's genome, they will miss most of a person's relatives.

"If you take a mitochondrial DNA test, you learn something about your mother's mother's mother's lineage," Bolnick said. "If you go back 10 generations, that's telling you something about only one out of more than a thousand ancestors."
- See more at: http://www.livescience.com/7384-genetic-ancestry-tests-hype-scientists.html#sthash.ctWYiNL8.dpuf

maybe they weren't lying. most likely never know, though, and then there're those children fathered by someone undisclosed and brought up as another man's child... so many factors.

 

[oggbashan]

It's not just DNA that is dubious.

If you do research into your family history, particularly in the UK, you will find that some of your ancestors lied on official paperwork.

For example my wife found the birth certificates and baptism records of a couple that married in the mid 19th Century. They said that they were 'of full age' = 21 years old and that their parents were dead. All four parents were still alive and the couple marrying were aged 20 (him) and 18 (her) so they should both have needed parental consent.

Another woman declared that the parents of her (illegitimate) son were the same as her own - i.e. that her new born son was her brother. The named parents? A great-uncle and great-aunt who had been dead for twenty years. Her son didn't find out that his supposed sister was actually his mother until he was 40. She was admitted to hospital and he found his and her birth certificates. If hers was correct, his was an obvious lie.

Even my own birth certificate has a lie. My father was covered by the Official Secrets Act at the time of my birth. His declared employment was untrue. He couldn't say what he was actually doing so gave his employment status of ten years earlier.

 

[toubab]

What is genetic ancestry testing?

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/testing/ancestrytesting

"Genetic ancestry testing, or genetic genealogy, is a way for people interested in family history (genealogy) to go beyond what they can learn from relatives or from historical documentation. Examination of DNA variations can provide clues about where a person's ancestors might have come from and about relationships between families. Certain patterns of genetic variation are often shared among people of particular backgrounds. The more closely related two individuals, families, or populations are, the more patterns of variation they typically share.

Three types of genetic ancestry testing are commonly used for genealogy:

Y chromosome testing: Variations in the Y chromosome, passed exclusively from father to son, can be used to explore ancestry in the direct male line. Y chromosome testing can only be done on males, because females do not have a Y chromosome. However, women interested in this type of genetic testing sometimes recruit a male relative to have the test done. Because the Y chromosome is passed on in the same pattern as are family names in many cultures, Y chromosome testing is often used to investigate questions such as whether two families with the same surname are related.

Mitochondrial DNA testing: This type of testing identifies genetic variations in mitochondrial DNA. Although most DNA is packaged in chromosomes within the cell nucleus, cell structures called mitochondria also have a small amount of their own DNA (known as mitochondrial DNA). Both males and females have mitochondrial DNA, which is passed on from their mothers, so this type of testing can be used by either sex. It provides information about the direct female ancestral line. Mitochondrial DNA testing can be useful for genealogy because it preserves information about female ancestors that may be lost from the historical record because of the way surnames are often passed down.

Single nucleotide polymorphism testing: These tests evaluate large numbers of variations (single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs) across a person’s entire genome. The results are compared with those of others who have taken the tests to provide an estimate of a person's ethnic background. For example, the pattern of SNPs might indicate that a person's ancestry is approximately 50 percent African, 25 percent European, 20 percent Asian, and 5 percent unknown. Genealogists use this type of test because Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA test results, which represent only single ancestral lines, do not capture the overall ethnic background of an individual."

 

[toubab]

Interesting test results for The Real cast members:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2JxoDyexiQ&spfreload=10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8vC5FNRDTU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m85uuEqET9s

 

[NOIRTRASH]

From what I read it looks like the dna labs divide the world into regions and collect genetic markers common inside those regions and rare everywhere else.

I have no ideas what my percentages are but I know my genealogy back to 300 BC or so. So I estimate I'm 1/4th British (English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh), 1/4th French, 1/8th German (Austrian and Swiss), and 1/8th Mediterranean (Spanish, Italian, Jew, Persian, Greek, and Egyptian). 3 percent or so Cherokee.

 

[toubab]

From what I read it looks like the dna labs divide the world into regions and collect genetic markers common inside those regions and rare everywhere else.

I have no ideas what my percentages are but I know my genealogy back to 300 BC or so. So I estimate I'm 1/4th British (English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh), 1/4th French, 1/8th German (Austrian and Swiss), and 1/8th Mediterranean (Spanish, Italian, Jew, Persian, Greek, and Egyptian). 3 percent or so Cherokee.

I think you should do the test to see how close the results are to what you think you know about your genealogy.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I think you should do the test to see how close the results are to what you think you know about your genealogy.

I was born within a USMC facikity in North Carolina, and share shit with any Tarheel. It gets worse, the dispensary was US Navy. Thank you Jesus I'm no fag.

 

[JohnnySavage]

I did it several years ago. Mainly to verify what i was told all my life about where my ancestors came from. I've been told my maternal gg grandfather was Cherokee. No Native American showed up so either there was't enough to show or some where along the line one of my ancestors lied.

My ancestors did come from England, Scotland and Ireland though.Which I was always told too. I think most people have it done to find information about distant ancestors anyway. If you're into researching family trees that does give you a window about where to possibly search.

Your ancestors came from Africa.

Anything else is just marketing.

I've no doubt that the marketeers are telling everyone they are Italian. Because everyone wants to be Italian.

 

[toubab]

Your ancestors came from Africa.

Anything else is just marketing.

I've no doubt that the marketeers are telling everyone they are Italian. Because everyone wants to be Italian.

For some people it's been thousands of years since one of their ancestors set foot in Africa. Probably tens of thousands of years for a relative few people.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Girlfriend is second generation Irish on both sides of the family.

Her ancestry.com results came back 98% Irish/Celtic, 2% Castilian Spanish.

Close enough.

 

[KarenB59]

Your ancestors came from Africa.

Anything else is just marketing.

I've no doubt that the marketeers are telling everyone they are Italian. Because everyone wants to be Italian.

No wonder I haven't been able to find my maternal ggg grandfather. I've been looking in the wrong country. Thanks for the tip .

 

[ishtat]

You are all bastards!

People see what they want to see. For example most southern and western English think of themselves as Anglo Saxons. In fact genetically they are very little different from the Welsh and Irish, their genes are predominantly Celtic. There was more Norse influence in Northern England and Scotland but Celtic genetic still dominate.

When Americans are told they have Celtic genes I suspect they think their origins are Irish(more romantic!) but in fact they could originate from anywhere in NW Europe.

I did a bit of family history research and soon found out that one of my grandmothers was the illegitimate child of her mothers employer, contrary to what the BC says, a great grandfather committed bigamy (and got away with it), but the gggUncle who married his half aunt did two years in Gloucester Jail for his sins. And that is just the ones we know about, anyone who claims they know their distant ancestors is fooling themselves - too many played away from home to be certain.

 

[pointless]

Your ancestors came from Africa.

Anything else is just marketing.

I've no doubt that the marketeers are telling everyone they are Italian. Because everyone wants to be Italian.

not really. i have no interest in boring everyone i know with stories about my uncle who i'm almost positive was in the mafia.

 

[Disgustipated]

not really. i have no interest in boring everyone i know with stories about my uncle who i'm almost positive was in the mafia.

Was one of them dark-skinned Italian from Sicily?

 

[pointless]

Was one of them dark-skinned Italians from Sicily?

sure, but let's not go all true romance on this.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Since there are no exclusive genomes for human populations, there is no such thing as a "100%" anything. So being something like "25% Cherokee" is genetically meaningless.
Genes vary independently of socially/culturally defined groups, and even unusual alleles show up anywhere. The allele for sickling hemoglobin is most common in central West Africa, but is also found in relatively high frequencies in other areas where malaria is holoendemic, such as Italy, Greece, and the Mideast. Thalassemia is most common in the Mediterranean, but is also found in higher frequencies in West Africa. And all this without any genetic ancestry.

I used to have my students, mostly of Western European ancestry, establish the partial genome for the class as a population, and then see "where" they were from. They've been everything from Papuan Highlanders to Kalahari Bushmen. Human variation doesn't come in "groups," but human thinking likes to see it that way.

 

[Frank1540]

DNA, have we come to the point that a simple saliva swab can be turned into a percentage map of your racial makeup?

Genetic Ancestry Tests Mostly Hype, Scientists Say

It would seem not, according to Deborah Bolnick of the University of Texas in Austin.

What led me to think not was one of Ancestry.com's commercials where the woman says she sent in her DNA and it came back the she was 26% Native American and she had no idea. My question is, is she stupid or was she adopted? If she knew both parents, which the commercial doesn't say, she would have known as she gets half of each parents DNA, which means that either one parent was 52% Native American or both parents were 26% Native American. She should have had a clue.

If she was adopted these test can only tell her about her distant ancestry, not about her mother or father and where they are from.

Most geneticists will tell you to save your money, because you won't really learn anything useful about your recent ancestry. Only about your distant ancestry.

You're right ... it's a very cruel deception. My wife was adopted so she's always wondered about her ancestry. She tried the DNA route and it showed her ancestors come from ... (ready for this nonsense?) ... Spain, Italy, England, Ireland, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and oh yes ... she's supposed to be 2% Native American. What a lot of garbage!!
BTW ... the answers to her question of ancestry are secret. New York State will not release ANY information about her birth parents. The law is meant to "protect" the birth parents.
Now ... her adoptive parents are long dead. No doubt her birth parents are dead too. What the hell is New York State protecting? The rights of dead people? What about my wife's right to know who her parents were? It has caused her pain for years.

 

[Frank1540]

DNA, have we come to the point that a simple saliva swab can be turned into a percentage map of your racial makeup?

Genetic Ancestry Tests Mostly Hype, Scientists Say

It would seem not, according to Deborah Bolnick of the University of Texas in Austin.

What led me to think not was one of Ancestry.com's commercials where the woman says she sent in her DNA and it came back the she was 26% Native American and she had no idea. My question is, is she stupid or was she adopted? If she knew both parents, which the commercial doesn't say, she would have known as she gets half of each parents DNA, which means that either one parent was 52% Native American or both parents were 26% Native American. She should have had a clue.

If she was adopted these test can only tell her about her distant ancestry, not about her mother or father and where they are from.

Most geneticists will tell you to save your money, because you won't really learn anything useful about your recent ancestry. Only about your distant ancestry.

You're right ... it's a very cruel deception. My wife was adopted so she's always wondered about her ancestry. She tried the DNA route and it showed her ancestors come from ... (ready for this nonsense?) ... Spain, Italy, England, Ireland, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and oh yes ... she's supposed to be 2% Native American. What a lot of garbage!!
BTW ... the answers to her question of ancestry are secret. New York State will not release ANY information about her birth parents. The law is meant to "protect" the birth parents.
Now ... her adoptive parents are long dead. No doubt her birth parents are dead too. What the hell is New York State protecting? The rights of dead people? What about my wife's right to know who her parents were? It has caused her pain for years.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

You're right ... it's a very cruel deception. My wife was adopted so she's always wondered about her ancestry. She tried the DNA route and it showed her ancestors come from ... (ready for this nonsense?) ... Spain, Italy, England, Ireland, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and oh yes ... she's supposed to be 2% Native American. What a lot of garbage!!
BTW ... the answers to her question of ancestry are secret. New York State will not release ANY information about her birth parents. The law is meant to "protect" the birth parents.
Now ... her adoptive parents are long dead. No doubt her birth parents are dead too. What the hell is New York State protecting? The rights of dead people? What about my wife's right to know who her parents were? It has caused her pain for years.

Its expensive to do but its possible to identify birth parents, because all of them have relatives and neighbors and lives. We leave breadcrumb trails. I'd start with the newborn article in the paper on the day she was born. The state health department will have a master list of all newborns for every day. And never pay any attention to refusals, you can get a look at the records with some green persuasion.

 

[kdawgaz]

Imalickin

You are wrong. Please watch the video link (4:30 mark).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4kLUoam8ik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4kLUoam8ik

It is true that you get half of your ethnic DNA from your mom and half from your dad. Then the next generation gets half of their genes from their mom and half from their dad - THEY DO NOT get half of their mom's and half of their dad's. That is why your siblings can have more of a certain ethnic gene than you.

Then another generation changes the ethnic make up. You can have a 5th Great Grandmother who is 100% Native American and you could have zero Native American in you.

 

[Real_American17]

From what I read it looks like the dna labs divide the world into regions and collect genetic markers common inside those regions and rare everywhere else.

How do they account for all the travel and interbreeding?

I'd think the genetic make-up of people living in Ireland now ans 5,000 years ago are very different.

The allele for sickling hemoglobin is most common in central West Africa, but is also found in relatively high frequencies in other areas where malaria is holoendemic, such as Italy, Greece, and the Mideast. Thalassemia is most common in the Mediterranean, but is also found in higher frequencies in West Africa. And all this without any genetic ancestry.

Could it being found in West Africa and the Mediterranean be caused by mosquitoes?