Hi All Lists again,
This msg follows closely the " 'Our' surnames for dna testing?" msg
of just a
few minutes ago to all our Surname Lists. Here is a just posted (29 Feb04)
announcement (Thanks to Beej--Fireflower) of interest and very topical to our
discussion. Assuming this announcement is accurate (I have no reason to believe
otherwise), this could be another useful step in dna Genealogy.
Understand this announcement is useful only after you have obtained a
genealogically useful dna result (generally about $100 now, but have seen $50
also quoted on mass testing). This piggybacks nicely on the Rice-L discussion
which we quoted moments ago.
Read the article (below) and factor it into your decision - making process.
It provides an excellent platform for our further discussions.
Best,
Barry
C Barry Wetherington
cbarrfly(a)comcast.net
By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret Morning News (Utah)
In a move they believe will forever alter the way family history research
is done, local geneticists are opening a free DNA-based genealogy database to
the public this week.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595045808,00.html
James Sorenson
The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation is expected to announce on
Monday that it has established a Web site -
www.smgf.org - that allows anyone
who has had a simple DNA test to input information that may link them to their
ancestors, both known and unknown.
Scott Woodward, chief scientific officer for the foundation established by
Utah billionaire James Sorenson, said the database is the beginning of a project
his organization will continue to expand in size and scope over time. The Web
site is designed to build one-sided pedigree charts - or family trees - for
those looking for their paternal ancestors through genetic testing. To use the
database, participants must undergo an inexpensive mouth swab test done by a
genetic testing company.
Once that procedure is complete, researchers process the saliva sample
through a laboratory and come up with coding sequences that define specific
genetic markers people carry through their Y-chromosome DNA - their father's
bloodline. Those markers can then be entered into the Web site database, which
searches for links with others whose genetic information matches their own.
Additional information:
Web sites:
Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation
Related stories:
June 11, 2003: Sorenson loves work, isn't ready to retire
Sept. 7, 2003: James LeVoy Sorenson: Elusive billionaire
To date, the foundation has catalogued information about the DNA of more
than 5,500 participants and plans to add as much new information to the database
every three months as it is able to collect.
Though the scope of the data currently available is limited mostly to
those with West European ancestry - because the vast majority of data already
collected has come from Americans of European descent - the database offers the
potential of virtually unlimited expansion into family lines from every
ethnicity on Earth.
As additional people are tested and offer their genetic information - and
their family history records - to the foundation, the larger the database will
grow, Woodward said.
While it doesn't circumvent the need for accurate family history data -
names, birthdates, marriage and death dates, place of birth and other vital
statistics - it supplements such information by providing what many consider to
be definitive proof of familial relationships: a genetic "match" meaning people
are related "with a high degree of probability," Woodward said. That
probability
is in the "high 90 percentile."
Available family history data was gathered from all those whose genetic
information is stored in the database and will be requested from those who want
to be a part of the database in the future.
The DNA tests are especially accurate for ancestors up to eight
generations back, he said, noting that technology makes it possible to go back
"even 50 or 60 generations" but cautions that genetic markers become less
reliable the further back they are traced because DNA undergoes slight
alterations over time.
Many people seeking to uncover their ancestry run into numerous roadblocks
in their search, including faulty information about family lines and surnames
that have been changed over time. Genetic testing offers a way to bypass such
roadblocks - if the information about ones' ancestors is a part of the Sorenson
database, or others that exist in a variety of laboratories in the United States
and England.
The difference at this point is the Sorenson Foundation is offering access
to such information not only on the Internet but free of charge to users. By
providing the information and encouraging people to not only use it but to add
to it, Woodward said his organization hopes to map the world's entire human
family tree through genetics at some point in the future.
Woodward, who started his work several years ago at Brigham Young
University and is considered one of the world's leading researchers in his
field, is now working for Sorenson, the medical devices pioneer who was recently
recognized as the state's wealthiest man.
Sorenson told the Deseret Morning News he is dedicated to expanding the
project indefinitely in the quest to help people the world over understand "how
similar we are, rather than how we're different. . . . We need other people and
they need us."
Sorenson said he established the foundation as a nonprofit organization
"to move this work along globally" rather than having it confined to one
university or research organization.
"We want to prove the science and let that carry us to the next level of
human kindness and dignity," Sorenson said. He said he truly believes that as
people come to understand their similarities, even in genetic makeup, they will
be more inclined to "brotherhood, peace on Earth and love for all our fellow
men. We're all connected in so many ways, and we don't even realize it."
Woodward said the information provided through the database protects the
identity of people currently living. If someone finds matching genetic markers
and retrieves a paternal pedigree chart through the database, only people who
lived prior to 1900 will show up on the chart. There are many reasons for that,
he said, including the possibility that people who believe they are children or
grandchildren of specific people will find their parentage lies elsewhere.
Sorenson isn't particularly concerned with such revelations, he said,
believing truth will ultimately come out and that understanding the truth better
serves those who are seeking to definitively establish their ancestral lines. He
sees his work as an extension of science but acknowledges there is an additional
motivation because of his faith.
For Christians - and particularly members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints - who are familiar with the biblical reference in Malachi to
"turn the heart of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children
to their fathers," the technology provides a stunning example of how literally
that process can now happen. The LDS Church is considered the world's leading
organization for family history research, and Sorenson admits it is no small
coincidence that his research is being conducted within blocks of the church's
world headquarters.
Sorenson himself is a Latter-day Saint, as are Woodward and many others
employed by the foundation. "It's a 'turning the hearts'-type process,
and a lot
of people working here are working on the basis that they feel something more
than just a test-tube study."
But science is at the forefront, he maintains.
"Genomics is the big deal" in the future of family history research, he
said. "It's huge. We're fortunate to have some platform work done by the
Mormon
Church, but if we were trying to make this simply an LDS phenomenon, we would
lose the rest of the world."
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595045808,00.html
E-mail: carrie(a)desnews.com
==========================
This is the process suggested on the website, which I have not tested:
http://smgf.org:8081/pubgen/site28.jsp
SMGF Database Search
The portion of the SMGF Database currently available to search is a large
y-chromosome dataset that links y-chromosome haplotypes, surnames, dates and
places of birth prior to the 1900s. This portion of the SMGF database is
currently composed of 5,519 genotypes associated with 205,470 individual
ancestors.
Instructions:
Obtain your unique genetic marker profile from a laboratory, such as Relative
Genetics, that produces a profile compatible with our database format.
Enter your genetic marker profile by selecting the number from the dropdown box
that corresponds to the number of your particular locus. (ex: if your genetic
reading for locus DYS388 is 11, you would select 11 from the DYS388 dropdown
box.)
*If you do not have information for any of these markers, or if your number
value is not present in the dropdown menu, select "other" from the dropdown
menu. Your genetic profile will only be queried with the loci for which you have
a value.
Please check our locus comparison table to make sure your genetic marker profile
is compatible with our database. View marker data.
Double check that the number values you entered for each locus match your
genetic profile exactly.
Submit the search by clicking on the "Submit Query" button.
==========================
Barry Wetherington