Archives

Building a Color Coded Chromosome Mapping Tool

Jun22

I am starting work on a web based program that will generate color-coded images of the chromosome segments inherited from your ancestors on an image of all 23 of your chromosomes. Cece Moore has done this by hand and that is the model for what this program will do. Click here for the sample image  she posted in her geni.com blog article about autosomal DNA testing

The first release will just take your spreadsheet and make a picture. That spreadsheet will have the same columns as the family inheritance compare at 23andme (or chromosome compare at ftDNA and GEDmatch) plus 3 new columns, side (paternal or maternal), MRCA(s) and optional color choice for each MRCA. Initially 16 ancestors can be plotted. A color palette can be chosen instead of specific colors and that will include a grayscale for the color blind.

So I solicit all your suggestions. I am reposting here some of the thoughts of my fellow DNA-NEWBIE mailing list members, brought to us by ISOGG

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We have results from a first cousin

May27

One of my cousins (half Norwegian) on Dad’s side (all Norwegian) just got his results. So I made this chart comparing myself to my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cousins on Dad’s side. Mind you, the 2nd cousin is on Dad’s paternal side while the third cousin is on his mom’s side.

Kitty's DNA versus her cousins

Kitty’s DNA versus her cousins

My brother’s chart looks very similar except no X match of course. Notice the very large X match I have with my first cousin which would come from his mother and my Dad’s mother, 57.3 cM. Interesting to see this as compared to my Dad ….

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It’s a Match!! Lars Monsen’s ancestors are found.

May10

The direct male line descendant of Ole Monsen Titland  (1702-1764) is a Y-chromosome DNA 34/37 match to my Dad, who we thought was also a descendant of Ole. Now we know he is!

Thank you so much cousin Sigmund for finding a distant cousin in direct paternal descent to test.

This story was written up a few months back in a post here but we were waiting on the DNA Y-chromosome STR test to prove our theory. Now it is proven.

Here are the deeper details of the three markers that do not match:

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About 23andme Testing

May7

Recently I convinced several cousins to test their DNA at 23andme since the price is now only $99 – 23andme is pushing to get one million subscribers. The idea is that by having a large enough database with subscribers that answer their health and trait surveys, correlations can be found with the genes responsible. 23andme has already contributed greatly to the current knowledge of DNA using this technique. So I feel particularly good about being a part of that. Click here for the list  of correlations that they have so far.

What they do is not a complete genome sequencing, just the markers that are most likely to be different from one person to the next. Remember we share about 98.5% of our genome with chimpanzees and 99.9% with other humans. These tests use a microchip array that actually tests about .o2% of your  genome.

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The Basics at 23andMe

Apr7

My family members asked me to write a 23andme tutorial, so here it is. Let me know what else I should put here.

The three things most people like best at 23andme are learning about their health issues (currently disabled for new kits because of the FDA ruling),  their ancestral places of origin, and finding DNA cousins (my term for people who share DNA that thus, must be related, however distantly). There is a wealth of other fun information available like how much Neanderthal DNA you have in you, but this post will mainly just cover those first three areas.

When you log in to 23andme you will see a page something like this.

Home Page at 23andme

You can click on Home in that top bar from any page on the site to return to this page. The ancestry composition box shown mid-page may not yet be ready for your sample if your results are just in.

To edit your profile, click on your name or photo on the  far top right to get a menu with that option. If you have any messages the envelope at the top right will get a green background and show the number of messages you have as in the example below.  Click on it to read them. I advise switching to email if you start to communicate with someone regularly as there are no tools to search the inbox unless you use chrome and the 23+ addon.
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