DNA Analysis

Anyone here have experience with figuring out an adoption connection? Received an email about a close match and this person matches my dad (potential first cousin at 1,088.5‎ cM). The person has since been in touch but doesn't have a whole lot of info. Grandparents on his mother's side don't match any of my records and he mentioned then that his father was adopted (I have his birth name but I haven't come across this surname in any of my research before).

Obviously possible that the connection is on his mother's side but the fact that he and my father share quite a bit of DNA suggests that maybe it's on the adoptive fathers side...not sure how to approach this one.

Hello looking for your thoughts on this close dna match?

This person thinks they may be half siblings but not 100 %. how can we be sure. We think they shared a father who is now passed. Thanks

Thanks for the reply. Man and woman, 56 and 63. will look at link also. Thank you.

My most recent discovery is that its not only Mr. Genealogy who has a Youtube channel, Ms. Genealogy also has a Youtube channel. See ye on Youtube! 🙂 I don't have a MyHeritage account so I won't be accessing that.

I have just today got the results back from 23andMe, very accurate compared with my own knowledge. Two of the health pages that I would have been particularly interested in give 404s so I have contacted them about that. Some of the traits are entertaining but mostly correct - I think 2 were not accurate.

My family background shows me as mostly from a fairly specific area of England with a bit of French and some Scandinavian. All of which I might have guessed at, though I was expecting a small level of maybe northern African which came up a minute fraction, < 1%. I am 99.3 northern European. Traits and health also very accurate - since I am in my late 70s I know about pretty much all the issues I might have, and they correspond with my experience, apart from the two that I cannot access.

The free post was accepted no problem.

Yes, they've decided to do a cash-grab. It has been exceptionally unpopular

When did they offer it for free?

We paid for it, it was part of the DNA package. We paid in full, no one is asking for anything for free just what we paid for.

I have never wanted or needed a subscription to Ancestry and I won't be forced into getting one to view something I've already paid for.

Soon to be renamed 'Poochtech'? 😉

I’ve been dipping into the DNA pool again using my mother’s kit (myHeritage) and my own (Ancestry and FTDNA-Y). The first two are uploaded to Gedmatch, I’ve also uploaded to FTDNA; the results are mediocre, but a surprising number of matches are with 23andMe (23) tests, a company that has been around for about 20 years. It would make sense to consider a 23 test, I’ve done some research and the results show a basket-case, I’m not going to test with them, for reasons below, but if you have, you should continue reading.

So, what does 23 do differently? It is a genetic testing company that is heavily weighted towards ‘medical traits’ and has about 10 million customers who have consented to share their genetic information for research. As a result, it’s also a pharma company, co-developing drugs based on what it has learned from its customer’s genetic databank. It did this for more than five years with Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK). Last year 23 had a major data-hack that continued for 5 months (April through September). More than 7 million accounts were compromised; in the hack two groups were specifically targeted, Jews and Chinese. Instead of owning up immediately, they let it slide, downplaying what had happened. Then, when news of the breach became widely known via Internet forums in early October 2023, the company again tried to minimise it, saying while an unspecified amount of "customer profile information" had been accessed "through access to individual 23andMe.com accounts," the company itself had not been breached. This specious statement was followed by blaming users who “……negligently recycled and failed to update their passwords”. If that was not enough, they added “Therefore, the incident was not a result of 23andMe’s alleged failure to maintain reasonable security measures.” At the same time, they changed their Ts & Cs to make class actions more difficult. Currently, it is known that almost 7 million accounts were breached and more than 30 class actions have been instituted against them. Soon after the hack 23 instigated a two-factor ID log-in system, one that had long been suggested and sought by many customers over an extended period.

The company has been in existence for almost 20 years and in 2021 went public which valued it at about $3.5bn. However, it has yet to make a profit, its shares have continued to tumble and today it’s worth roughly $250m, a decline of about 95%.

Revenue for the latest year is US$219.6m (down 27% on 2023) and had a net loss of US$666.7m (an increase of 114% on 2023). Over a few years, a company that once was hailed to become the star of the DNA industry is now a sick cripple. The company blamed the revenue loss on decreased sales of genetic testing kits and lower research revenue after its five-year exclusive collaboration with GSK ended last July. Losses continue to be incurred and if they continue at the present rate (highly likely) it could run out of cash by 2025

Is there a future for 23? Yes, but not as the company is structured today. Its databank of customer genetic information is a very valuable asset and would make it attractive to any acquiring pharma company. It probably will either be de-listed from the Nasdaq and struggle on, or bought out by its key shareholder. Either way, it will focus on collecting and using its genetic data to become a healthcare company concentrating on disease prevention and treatment, all of which will be based on the genetic data it holds on you and others. Given its response to the hack, is this the type of company you want to take care of you or share your genome with?

I did 23&me some years ago but only this week uploaded DNA data to GEDmatch. There is a facebook group for a family line with DNA. So I have passed on the reference no to them. I really have not got my head around DNA. I dont think I have brick walls to motivate me. I tried upload to GEDmatch some years ago and got so far but not successful. This time it was much easier.