Hiring a DNA Testing Company

DNA testing has become an accepted tool for identifying ancestors and for verifying genealogical leads. It is also used frequently to learn about our deep ancestry. Testing your family DNA sometimes results in finding cousins who may have more genealogical information than you.

What is DNA?
To better understand DNA testing it is helpful to have a basic understanding of how DNA is inherited. The University of Utah's Genetic Science Learning Center's page Basic Genetics is an excellent resource.

DNA is based on the 46 chromosomes that every human being has (with few exceptions). The sex-determining chromosomes are X from the mother and either X or Y from the father. If X from the father, the child is female (XX) and if Y from the father the child is male (XY). The Y-chromosome can be traced from father to son to son and so on.

In addition, each human being carries a genetic molecule in their cells called the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). This genetic component is found in organelles called mitochondria, which produce energy for the hosting cell. mtDNA is inherited exclusively along the mother side. Both males and females carry mtDNA, but only women will pass their mtDNA to their children. Both mtDNA and Y DNA can go back hundreds of years, because of their slow mutation rate. They can be used to help verify or find direct maternal or paternal lines.

Autosomal DNA is the DNA found on the rest of your 44 chromosomes. It is a mix of all your ancestor lines not just your direct maternal or paternal line. Autosomal usually shows about 6-7 generations back.



Getting Started with DNA Testing
CeCe Moore's "DNA Testing for Genealogy - Getting Started" series is a great place for beginners. It is also great for helping to decide which type of DNA test to do. Read her posts at the Geni blog:


 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3
 * Part 4

Y-DNA Testing
Information stored in the Y chromosome (Ycs) passes virtually unchanged from father-to-son for centuries. Analysis of this genetic information, found in living people, can help you determine whether you share a common paternal ancestor with another person alive today. Based on the number of genetic markers shared on the Ycs with another person, you can also estimate how many generations in the past your common paternal ancestor lived. This is called Time to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) and it is based on a mutation rate calculated on many thousands of father/son pairs. Ycs testing can help in verifying a common paternal ancestor, or learn about the origin of a particular surname. Additionally, each Ycs can be predicted into a specific branch of the large Ycs tree based on the set of Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) tested by many companies and using an online predictor, or it can be accurately assigned to one of these branches through the test of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) (see the Ycs ISOGG tree).

Note: Only males carry the Ycs, but a woman can have a male relative tested in her stead to obtain such information.

MTDNA Testing
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a small circular genetic molecule found outside the nucleus in organelles called mitochondria. It is inherited exclusively from our mothers and it follows an unbroken maternal line. MtDNA is helpful in verifying the existence of a common maternal ancestor or to study the ancient origins of our maternal line. MtDNA lineages can be grouped together in a large mtDNA tree. Each branch of this tree may have a specific geographic distribution that might help someone locate the country or region of origin of their maternal line.

MtDNA testing can be done for a small section of the genome called the control region (which usually include the segments HVR1, 2 and/or 3), or for the full molecule (16569 bases). Family Tree DNA is currently the only commercial laboratory offering the complete mtDNA sequence to its customers.

Note: Although mtDNA is inherited exclusively along the maternal side, both males and females carry it. Only females will pass it on to their children. ISOGG has a useful diagram which shows the path of mtDNA transmission.

Autosomal DNA Testing
Autosomal DNA is the DNA found in the 22 pairs of nuclear chromosomes. They are shuffled at each generation and only half of it is passed to our offspring. It does not follow a clear and straight path of inheritance as the Ycs and mtDNA described above. However, current testing provides a survey of one million or more sites on a person nuclear genome. This information is helpful in identifying recent cousins within the last five generations, or the ethnic origins of our family tree. Companies like 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, and Ancestry all offer autosomal testing for genealogical purposes. The Genographic Project recently launched an autosomal test that offers insights into our deep ancestry. These tests offer a lot of information about our DNA and they may be difficult to understand. Each company offering such tests has numerous tutorials and aids on their website to assist with the interpretation of such results.

ISOGG's "Autosomal DNA testing comparison chart" provides useful information for selecting a company to process your atDNA.

DNA Testing Companies
Some major commercial DNA testing companies are listed below in alphabetical order. Please visit their websites to learn more about their services:

23andme
23andme was founded in April 2006 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. They sell autosomal DNA kits with two options. Ancestry + Traits (base price $99) and Health + Ancestry (base price $149). The latter includes everything in the former plus health reports. They also sell memberships for $29 which grant access to additional features. The main benefit of the membership for genealogists is that it allows you to see your top 5000 matches whereas without it, you can only see your top 1500.

For genealogists, the biggest strength of 23andme is their chromosome browser. Unlike the chromosome browswers provided by FtDNA and MyHeritage, 23andme will show you if you share X-DNA with a match. This can help you more easily determine how you are related to a genetic match by eliminating several lines. Also unlike FtDNA and MyHeritage, 23andme's chromosome browswer allows you to compare any two of your matches against each other whereas both FtDNA and MyHeritage only allows you to compare them against yourself. This means you can more easily determine if two matches are closely related such as mother-son, siblings, or second cousins. The difference can be important as you try to use DNA to prove your descent from a common ancestor.

Another advantage to 23andme is they predict your paternal and maternal haplogroups meaning they predict what branches of the human family your Y-DNA and mtDNA belong in. They do not provide match lists for these parts of your DNA but you can check to see if your haplogroups match another test taker when trying to find the common ancestor.

23andme has a unique tree feature. Instead of uploading your tree, 23andme compares your DNA against everyone else in the database and tries to construct a genetic tree for you and predicts where your top matches belong in your tree. The initial tree is usually not perfect, but is fairly accurate. This generated tree can be adjusted meaning more people can be added and people can be moved from there predicted locations to their true ones. The tree is more of a tool to show how you are related to your other matches than a traditional pedigree.

The biggest disadvantage to 23andme is their tree feature only lets you add up to 300 relatives and only 5 other people can have permission to view it at a time. They do have a place where you can provide a link to your tree somewhere else like Ancestry or MyHeritage, but most test takers have not included one or they have linked to their FamilySearch tree, not realizing only they can see it because they are living and therefore marked as private in FamilyTree.

To summarize, 23andme is a great company and for an advanced genetic genealogist who knows how to use a chromosome browser and figure out who people are even when they don't have a pedigree and don't respond to emails. A test taker without those skills and who lacks the time and effort to obtain them will likely make little headway trying to solve brick wall ancestors. Those who are looking for closer relatives such adoptees or those who have given children up for adoption, should definitely test with 23andme just in case the one close relative you are looking for has already tested in their database. Maybe your biological mother is in 23andme but not any other company.

Ancestry
Ancestry was founded in 1996 and has been selling DNA tests since 2012. They are based in Lehi, Utah. They sell Ancestry kits for $99 and Ancestry plus traits for $109. Often you can also add a three month membership to Ancestry's record database for $1 when you purchase a kit through them.

The biggest advantage to AncestryDNA is their database. As of November 2018, they have sold over 18 million DNA kits. The sheer size of their database makes it more likely that you will find a genetic relative of interest to your problem. The other major advantage to Ancestry is the ability to link your DNA and pedigree together. You can upload your tree, link your DNA to yourself in the tree and then Ancestry will start comparing your tree against all your genetic relatives who also have linked their trees to their DNA. Not everyone has done this and many users have both DNA and a tree, but have not linked the two.

Another major strength is their Thrulines feature. After Ancestry has compared your tree and tried to find as many genetic connections as possible, Ancestry will allow you to see all of these possible connections using Thrulines. Thrulines allows you to click on an Ancestor, and then it shows you all the other matches it thinks descends from that Ancestor and their relationships. It can even use their massive database of online trees to fill in some of the gaps when a match of interest only has a partial tree. One important thing to know about Thrulines is that it does not "go through the DNA" despite what many people seem to think. The formulas is simple, if two people share DNA their trees are sought for a common ancestor, but the DNA still needs to be analyzed to make sure that Thrulines found the right common ancestor. For example, Tanner Tolman has a match that according to the paper trail should be related on his grandmother's side. However, there was a non-paternal event and this particular individual is actually genetically related on his grandfather's side. This is obvious when looking at the shared matches, but Thrulines incorrectly assumes the relationship is on grandmother's side. In other words, Thrulines is great, but do not accept it without verifying the conclusions.

One more strength of Ancestry worth mentioning is their dot system. You can create custom groups, assign each group a color and then place colored dots on each match you believe belongs in that group. You can use these dots with the Leeds method to help identify matches that may be related to your brick wall ancestor.

The biggest disadvantage to Ancestry is their strict privacy rules. They do not have a chromosome browser, they do not have an auto cluster tool, and although they let you see people who share DNA with both you and another genetic match, they do not let you see how closely those shared matches are related to the other person. This can make things difficult when trying to construct a hypothetical tree or when people do not respond to emails asking for more information (which happens frequently). Many people in Ancestry's large database, bought the test, looked at their ethnicity results once, and then never logged in again. Also, to get the full value out of your AncestryDNA test, you will need a membership to Ancestry. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to look at the trees uploaded by your matches.

In summary, Ancestry has strict privacy rules which can be irritating for advanced genealogists and those interested in chromosome mapping, Thrulines is not perfect, and many matches do not respond to emails which is especially hard for beginning genealogists. However, the size of their database really does make up for a lot. Many genealogists still consider Ancestry to be the best company for genetic research, especially if those researchers are working on brick wall Ancestors who lived in the United States. Those who are looking for closer relatives such adoptees or those who have given children up for adoption, should definitely test with Ancestry just in case the one close relative you are looking for has already tested in their database. Maybe your biological mother is in Ancestry but not any other company.

FamilyTreeDNA
Family Tree DNA was founded in 2000 and is based in Houston, Texas. They are the only company that sells autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and MtDNA tests. Their basic autosomal test is their "Family Finder" test and has a base price of $79. The Family Finder + myDNA wellness test has a base price of $119 and also includes "30+ actionable DNA insights into your health and wellness". Their mtDNA test is called the mtFull Sequence and has a base price of $159. It is named that because it tests all 16,000 base pairs included in mtDNA. They also sell three levels of Y-DNA tests: Y-37, Y-111, and Big Y-700 priced at $119, $249, and $449 respectively. Y-37 tests 37 Single Tandem Repeats (STR's), Y-111 tests 111 STR's, and Big-Y 700 tests 700 STR's as well as over 200,000 SNP's. Users of 23andme will probably notice that 23andme predicts your paternal and maternal haplogroups with their test. The difference between that and FamilyTreeDNA's tests is that FamilyTreeDNA's tests are more detailed and provide match lists for your Y-DNA and mtDNA. Anyone who matches you on those tests is related on your direct paternal line or direct maternal line respectively.

Concerning autosomal DNA, FamilyTreeDNA sells DNA kits, but also allows users to download their DNA raw data from another company and upload it for free into their database. The upload is free, and users will be able to see their match list for free, but users will need to pay a one time fee of $19 in order to get full access and do things like compare their matches in a chromosome browser. The one time fee of $19 only applies to uploads, if you buy the test from them in the first place, all the features are granted for free.

There is a common misconception that users can upload their DNA from another company and get FamilyTreeDNA's Y-DNA results or mtDNA results. This is not the case. If you want results for those types of test, you must purchase those kits from FamilyTreeDNA directly.

FamilyTreeDNA allows users to upload their trees, and they have a chromosome browser. They allow you to find a DNA match and not only allow you to see which of your matches also share DNA with that person like the other companies do, but they also allow you to easily see which of your matches do not match that particular person. For example, if you and your mom test, you could use that feature to quickly see everyone who does not match your mom and is thus related on your dad's side.

The biggest advantage to FamilyTreeDNA is that they offer so many different types of tests. They also can store your DNA sample for up to 25 years so if you decide to take an additional test later on, you can just pay the fee and you usually do not need to take the test a second time. In particular FamilyTreeDNA excels in the Y-DNA domain. FamilyTreeDNA hosts many free Y-DNA surname projects. These projects attempt to compare Y-DNA results of men with the same surname to determine if and how they are all related to each other. Check to see if your surname has a special Y-DNA project that you can join. If so, the project administrator may be able to give you unique insights into your paternal DNA.

Another potential advantage to FamilyTreeDNA is they use a cheek swab whereas 23andme and Ancestry both use spit tubes. If you are trying to test someone who is old and unable to produce enough spit, FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage are great options since they both use swabs.

MyHeritage
MyHeritage was founded in 2003 and has been selling DNA tests since 2016. They are headquartered in Or Yehuda, Israel.

MyHeritage sells DNA tests with a base price of $89. They also accept uploads from other companies. In order to get full access to an uploaded kit, you will need to either pay a one time fee of $20 or obtain a MyHeritage subscription.

MyHeritage's biggest strength is their auto cluster tool. The autocluster tool analyzes your DNA matches from the 2nd cousin level and more distant to figure out which matches are all related to each other and probably represent one branch of your family. Once the autoclusters are generated, you can look at the matches in each to figure out which cluster if any represents the line you are interested in. You can then start focusing your research on the trees of the people in that cluster to try and find the common ancestor.

MyHeritage offers a chromosome browser that allows you to compare your DNA against up to seven genetic matches at a time. Like 23andme they are fairly liberal with the information they give. You can usually see about how old the match is which helps figure out how the generations line up and when looking at shared matches, you can see the predicted relationship between the match you are comparing against and their shared matches and the amount of centimorgans they share with each other. This means you can quickly see that to matches might be closely related such as brother-sister, father-son without having to contact both of them and ask for their trees.

Another potential advantage to MyHeritage is they use a cheek swab whereas 23andme and Ancestry both use spit tubes. If you are trying to test someone who is old and unable to produce enough spit, FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage are great options since they both use swabs.

MyHeritage is the best company for testing your small children who are too young to understand how to use a spit tube. A cheek swab is much easier to use on a child, but FamilyTreeDNA will not accept the DNA of any test taker under the age of 13. MyHeritage will allow samples from children if they are submitted by their parents or legal guardians.

Living DNA
LivingDNA was founded in 2016 and is based in Somerset, England. LivingDNA sells DNA tests Ancestry kits for $79, a Wellbeing kit for $95, and an Ancestry + Wellbeing kit for $140. You can also get a Personalized vitamins kit for $66. Those who purchase an Ancestry kit get the recent ancestry reports and Viking reports included in their purchase. LivingDNA allows free uploads from other companies, but if you upload then in order to get the Viking upgrade you would need to pay a one time fee of $20 and to get the Recent Ancestry upgrade you would need to pay a one time fee of $39.

LivingDNA predicts your paternal and maternal haplogroups like 23andme does, but it is only able to do so for customers who buy their test rather than simply upload it.

LivingDNA allows you to see your match list and people who share DNA with you and another person on your match list. They do not have a chromosome browser at this time, claim that they plan to release one soon.

23 and Me AncestryDNA DNA Consulting FamilyTree DNA Living DNA MyHeritage
 * Autosomal (with paternal and maternal Haplogroup assignment)
 * Ability to connect with people who are DNA matches
 * Offers health test
 * Chromosome browser feature
 * Physical traits feature
 * Autosomal
 * Ability to connect with people who are DNA matches
 * Physical traits feature
 * STR markers (form of autosomal)
 * Y-DNA (25 markers)
 * mtDNA
 * Autosomal
 * mtDNA (with maternal Haplogroup)
 * Y-DNA (37 markers through 111 markers with paternal Haplogroup)
 * Ability to connect with people who are DNA matches
 * Chromosome browser feature
 * Autosomal (with paternal and maternal Haplogroups)
 * no tree feature at this time
 * Autosomal
 * Ability to connect with people who are DNA matches
 * Chromosome browser feature

Public DNA Databases

 * Borland Genetics Autosomal matching database with emphasis on reconstructing DNA of deceased individuals
 * DNAGedcom.com
 * Gedmatch - Autosomal raw data only
 * GeneBase
 * mitoYDNA.org - Crowdsourced Y and mitochondrial databases
 * YHRD - Y-Chromosome STR haplotype reference database

Defunct Public DNA Databases

 * Mitosearch - Site closed in May 2018 over concerns their data was not compliant with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
 * mtDNACommunity - As of August 2020 the site is down, but you may be able to contact them at [mailto:info@mtDNACommuity.org info@mtDNACommuity.org]
 * Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SNGF) - Formerly sponsored by Brigham Young University, SMGF was acquired by Ancestry. The data is not publicly available.

Genetic Genealogy Standards
In 2015, a group of expert DNA genealogists developed a set of standards to help people accurately interpret their DNA test results. The standards are available on the group's website The Genetic Genealogy Standards.

Result Analysis
Organizations, such as The Genetic Genealogist, The Genetic Genealogy Consultant, and Your Genetic Genealogist provide services to help you interpret your DNA results and get the most out of what they can tell you about your roots.

DNA Projects
Thousands of DNA Projects, usually focused on a particular surname, location, or ethnicity, are active around the world. A listing of geographical projects can be found in the ISOGG Wiki.

Examples of individual projects include:
 * Britton International DNA Project
 * Carpenter Cousins Project Carpenter, Zimmerman (older German for Carpenter) and related surnames.
 * Kerchner DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy

FamilyTree DNA has several projects, including the following: A list of FamilyTree DNA projects can be found on their FamilyTreeDNA Group Projects page.
 * Biggs DNA Project
 * Cruse/Cruwys DNA Project
 * Harrison DNA Project
 * Kevan DNA Project
 * New Mexico DNA Project
 * Spencer DNA Project

Adoption-Specific Projects
These projects have created with the specific purpose of helping adoptees find their biological families.
 * DNAAdoption
 * Mixed Roots Foundation Global Adoptee Genealogy Project (GAGP)

Websites

 * International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG). Site includes newsletters, a DNA Wiki, Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree, list of DNA consultants for hire, list of DNA speakers, DNA signatures of famous people, project listings and much more. To ask questions and read news, visit their Facebook page.
 * Genealogy DNA Mailing List (RootsWeb). Active conversations about genetic genealogy.
 * Chris Pomery: DNA &amp; Family History. Online resources include DNA talks, books, papers, articles, blogs, presentations, podcasts, and websites by an expert in the field.
 * Journal of Genetic Genealogy. Free articles from leading scholars in the field.
 * Genetic Genealogy Consultant. Free tutorials and resources for understanding DNA results within a genealogical and ancestral context.
 * Your Genetic Genealogist. This Blog strives to make the subject of genetic genealogy accessible and understandable for the non-scientist. Written by CeCe Moore, a professional genetic genealogist and experienced personal genomics consumer.
 * Autosomal DNA Facebook group. Great place to learn more about your autosomal DNA results.

Disclaimer
'''Neither The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nor FamilySearch International is associated in any way with any DNA study. As a non-profit organization, FamilySearch cannot recommend a specific DNA-testing company to you.'''