Re: DNA
Posted: 25 Jun 2020, 22:55
QUOTE: chiddicks - "......... plus you can upload your raw data after tomadditional sites such as my heritage and gedmatch. Autosomal matches both paternal and maternal lines, a Y DNA test only matches the paternal line."
You can upload those results as you say, but if your matches haven't uploaded theirs to Gedmatch then you are no further forward on seeing which are the matching chromosomes and segments and using that information to triangulate the results. Probably it pays to test with several companies if one can afford to, to get on as many databases as possible. Only a relatively small fraction of testers go on to put their results on Gedmatch.
Though autosomal tests do indeed show inherited matches on both paternal and maternal branches, they generally get harder to identify beyond about the 4th cousin range, but that can be sufficient for some testers. Y DNA tests, though only tracing through the male line, cover a lineage well beyond the (paper based) genealogical time frame as well to the present, and mutations are relatively slow, so they can be very useful for finding close and distant cousins, again, if sufficient people have tested. The key is what is the question one is hoping to answer by DNA testing, as to which type of test is the most beneficial, and in some cases both types may be necessary.
You can upload those results as you say, but if your matches haven't uploaded theirs to Gedmatch then you are no further forward on seeing which are the matching chromosomes and segments and using that information to triangulate the results. Probably it pays to test with several companies if one can afford to, to get on as many databases as possible. Only a relatively small fraction of testers go on to put their results on Gedmatch.
Though autosomal tests do indeed show inherited matches on both paternal and maternal branches, they generally get harder to identify beyond about the 4th cousin range, but that can be sufficient for some testers. Y DNA tests, though only tracing through the male line, cover a lineage well beyond the (paper based) genealogical time frame as well to the present, and mutations are relatively slow, so they can be very useful for finding close and distant cousins, again, if sufficient people have tested. The key is what is the question one is hoping to answer by DNA testing, as to which type of test is the most beneficial, and in some cases both types may be necessary.