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DNA Ancestry Tests

MaggieD

MaggieD

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Is there any scientific basis formclaimsmthat a dna test can prove one’s ancestry?
 
MaggieD said:
Is there any scientific basis formclaimsmthat a dna test can prove one’s ancestry?
Click to expand...

I've wondered about this, I see advertisements and people discover they're all kinds of things and some corporate heads are laughing their heads off.


Something I want them to figure out: 1) Do the Jews have a common ancestor, or did they come from the Canaanite cities that fell from internal struggle? 2) Can you find the lost tribes of Israel in Europe?

Sorry Maggie, I've thought about starting my own thread on this and writing Ancestry. I hope you don't mind if I say this here.
 
MaggieD said:
Is there any scientific basis formclaimsmthat a dna test can prove one’s ancestry?
Click to expand...
I think your DNA is matched to others from a general area.
I think the more people who get tested the better the results will become.
I think they are reasonably accurate already.
The two I have looked at (My Wife, and My Brother) match what we knew from genealogy fairly closely.
A few surprises but not too many.
 
longview said:
I think your DNA is matched to others from a general area.
I think the more people who get tested the better the results will become.
I think they are reasonably accurate already.
The two I have looked at (My Wife, and My Brother) match what we knew from genealogy fairly closely.
A few surprises but not too many.
Click to expand...

There’s one that does animal DNA testing, or there used to be. Find out what kind of mitt your dog is. I laughed because they also wanted his picture. I wonder if the people ones want a picture, too...

Edit... and I also wonder what’s happening to all those DNA samples matched to names and addresses.
 
MaggieD said:
There’s one that does animal DNA testing, or there used to be. Find out what kind of mitt your dog is. I laughed because they also wanted his picture. I wonder if the people ones want a picture, too...
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The people one, just wants you to spit in a little cup, or swab your cheek.
As for the dogs, that just seems silly.
 
MaggieD said:
Is there any scientific basis formclaimsmthat a dna test can prove one’s ancestry?
Click to expand...

A mountain of evidence proves it to be a scientific fact.
 
MaggieD said:
Is there any scientific basis formclaimsmthat a dna test can prove one’s ancestry?
Click to expand...

Yes. there is. What has been done is that they have taken DNA samples from people all over the world to make a huge database. Same allees of genes are much more common in some areas of the world than others. They look at the variations of the genes, and compare them to the database, and the more hits that are in common with a specific region, the higher a chance that you have ancestors from that region. It's not as accurate (IMO) than the various companies are promoting, but it can give to a certain amount of being reasonable. In fact, if there are gene sequences that are exact, the more gene sequences between two people that are exact, then the close they are as sharing a common ancestor.

Of course, the further back in time in ancestors, the less accurate, because of filtering, the genes people carry can be filtered out from generation to generation. It is possible for someone to be have an ancestor from , oh lets say 10 generations back and have very little or no genes in common with that person. .. because of random chance. However, the tests can point out where the variations of the genes you have originated.
 
Exquisitor said:
I've wondered about this, I see advertisements and people discover they're all kinds of things and some corporate heads are laughing their heads off.


Something I want them to figure out: 1) Do the Jews have a common ancestor, or did they come from the Canaanite cities that fell from internal struggle? 2) Can you find the lost tribes of Israel in Europe?

Sorry Maggie, I've thought about starting my own thread on this and writing Ancestry. I hope you don't mind if I say this here.
Click to expand...

Well, it can be shown that for example, the Cohen males have a specific gene in their Y-Chromosome, which confirms the tradition that they were the same family from 2500 years ago at least.. and that the Ashkenazim Jews all descended from about 350 individuals that moved to Russia about 900 years ago... and that many of the genes are shared by people in the Middle East.

However, when it come to ancestry, if you look at the numbers, and how ancestry works, every solitary person from let's say 3000 years ago that has decedents is the direct ancestor of every person alive today.

In fact, both you and I are both descended from Charlemagne. https://www.theguardian.com/science...-genetic-ancestry-charlemagne-adam-rutherford
 
If done right, yes, to a very certain degree of probability.


The problem is mishandling of tests, poor precautions, and etc., can produce false results. The companies just aren't up to snuff, generally.
 
RAMOSS said:
Well, it can be shown that for example, the Cohen males have a specific gene in their Y-Chromosome, which confirms the tradition that they were the same family from 2500 years ago at least.. and that the Ashkenazim Jews all descended from about 350 individuals that moved to Russia about 900 years ago... and that many of the genes are shared by people in the Middle East.

However, when it come to ancestry, if you look at the numbers, and how ancestry works, every solitary person from let's say 3000 years ago that has decedents is the direct ancestor of every person alive today.

In fact, both you and I are both descended from Charlemagne. https://www.theguardian.com/science...-genetic-ancestry-charlemagne-adam-rutherford
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So the slogan "Je suis Charlie" is very real!:mrgreen:
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
Those advertisments are dubious at best.


DNA Ancestry Tests Are 'Meaningless' for Your Historical Genealogy Search


genetic astrology.
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Well, if you look at the disclaimer at the bottom

The original version of this article was entitled "DNA Ancestry Tests Are Meaningless for Your Genealogy Search,"which was inaccurate. The source material does not question the usefulness of DNA testing for questions about immediate biological relations, like paternity tests or adoptees looking for their biological families; its criticism was limited to DNA ancestry tests that claim to answer specific questions about ancestors in the distant past without supporting evidence from historical documents.
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The further back in time the fuzzier the results, and it can distinguish what part of the world the genes you carry originate

and

"With advanced testing you can provide a general ancestry indication i.e. Northern European, Western Africa or Middle Eastern and in some cases even more specific," said David Nicholson, director of the DNA Worldwide group to BBC News.

"DNA cannot tell you that your ancestors were Viking, simply that your ancestry came from a part of the world common to the Vikings based on historic facts. It's important to talk to the company who provide the testing to make sure your expectations are realistic"
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So, it all depends on what your expectations are. It can tell generalities.. but not specifics the further back in time.
 
RAMOSS said:
Well, if you look at the disclaimer at the bottom



The further back in time the fuzzier the results, and it can distinguish what part of the world the genes you carry originate

and



So, it all depends on what your expectations are. It can tell generalities.. but not specifics the further back in time.
Click to expand...




wait, so you can use this test to tell if you are a white dude, a black dude, or an arab?


wow..... what a brave new world! ;)
 
Mr Person said:
If done right, yes, to a very certain degree of probability.


The problem is mishandling of tests, poor precautions, and etc., can produce false results. The companies just aren't up to snuff, generally.
Click to expand...

Identical triplets (former playboy models) had a DNA test for ancestry done and the results were slightly different for all of them (couple of % here and there and some minor ethnicity that the others did not have)
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
wait, so you can use this test to tell if you are a white dude, a black dude, or an arab?


wow..... what a brave new world! ;)
Click to expand...

Where did I say that?? Are you reading into words and putting your own prejudices into play?
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
Identical triplets (former playboy models) had a DNA test for ancestry done and the results were slightly different for all of them (couple of % here and there and some minor ethnicity that the others did not have)
Click to expand...

That's why I said that the various companies overestimate the results.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
wait, so you can use this test to tell if you are a white dude, a black dude, or an arab?
Click to expand...


Now why would you think that there are specific genes corresponding to specific religious beliefs?
 
MaggieD said:
Is there any scientific basis formclaimsmthat a dna test can prove one’s ancestry?
Click to expand...

I have a genealogy book that lists all generations from 1652 the year my family set foot in America. In the preface it discribes how the family traveled from Brittany France to Scotland and then on to America. It also gave several locations where graves sites in France and Germany where variations of my last name were. Quite extensive.

Upon leaning that Brittany was Celtic, I got interested in Ancestry DNA and in one of their specials sent my stuff in. There wasn't much difference in the results that what the genealogy book showed. 52% Western European, 35% Great Britain, 6% Scandinavian, 3% Iberian Peninsula all were expected given the family history.

What wasn't expected was that 2% European Jewry and 2% Indian from India, not America. But perhaps that Indian India can be explained as my is a gulf in the Indian Ocean named after my family name. Seafarers a lot of them were.
 
RAMOSS said:
Of course, the further back in time in ancestors, the less accurate, because of filtering, the genes people carry can be filtered out from generation to generation. It is possible for someone to be have an ancestor from , oh lets say 10 generations back and have very little or no genes in common with that person. .. because of random chance. However, the tests can point out where the variations of the genes you have originated.
Click to expand...

Mitochondrial dna for women, and Y chromosome dna for men, pass on alleles in perpetuity. Using that material we can trace an ancestral path across the globe and back to Kenya, ~300,000 years iirc. Can't name ancestors that far back, obviously, but we know exactly where the person's ancestors, on one side of the family, were and when.
 
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