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This test hes talking about deals with the rest of your DNA that doesn’t deal with male or female lineage (autosomal DNA). Heres how I understand how you could inherit DNA from just two of your grandparents.
Lets say I have one parent that is white and one parent that is Asian. Since you inherit half your DNA from each parent, I would therefore have half white DNA and half Asian DNA. I would probably have physical features of both groups, and folks could tell I was half and half.
No lets say I marry a fellow who is half white and half black. So he would have half of his DNA thats white, and half as black He’d probably have features from both groups as well.
Lets say we have kids. You inherit 50% of your DNA from each parent, so statistically, I’d end up with a kid thats 25% Asian, 50% white, and 25% black.
Now heres were it gets interesting. Usually the DNA my kid gets from me would be half white and half Asian. But that doesn’t mean he will inherit exactly half of my white DNA and half of my Asian DNA. By chance, he could inherit only the half of my DNA that is white. Think of it as flipping a coin a hundred times, with heads being white DNA and tails being Asian DNA . Usually you should get 50 heads and 50 tails. But occasionally you could get 100 heads and no tails.
So lets say my kid only inherits the white half of my DNA and by coincidence also only inherits the white DNA from his dad. I’d have a white looking kid that would test as 100% European, even though he has 1 grandparent that is black and one that is Asian.
Lets say my second kid only inherits my Asian DNA, and his dads black DNA. He would test out as 50% Asian and 50% black. 2 siblings with different results.
I was raised in a mixed race community and have seen several examples of full siblings looking like different races. This has also occurred with my dad and his sister (he looks English, she looks Asian). I also saw an article years ago about two non-identical twins, a brother and a sister. The parents were mixed race black and white. One twin looked full white and the other twin looked full black!
OK, its more complex than this, but hopefully this makes it easier to understand.
Thanks spilleddi…that sure is a start to grasping it.
It seems then that with those of us that have some Indian coming in through several grandparents lines could end up DNA wise having a higher DNA Indian % than figuring it traditionally in fractions would indicate. Could that be possible?
Does this correlate in any way with dominant and recessive genes and traits?
It always seemed to me if I inherited the dominant Indian traits all down the lines that I could look very much like a GGGGrandmother.
I tell medical personal that I have Indian heritage in case of diseases common to Indians, and they will ask how much and act like the percentage of inheriting it is watered down. It again seems to me I could have inherited that gene all down the lines.
I have no formal education in genetics and have never studied it other than a little reading on breeding mice and rabbits. (By the way, keep those rabbits away from your scanner cords…they’ll eat them and anything else they see as grass.):rolleyes::)
Wachinika wrote:
It seems then that with those of us that have some Indian coming in through several grandparents lines could end up DNA wise having a higher DNA Indian % than figuring it traditionally in fractions would indicate. Could that be possible?
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Yes, definitely! You can have more or less DNA from that particular lineage than what you figure traditionally using fractions. BUT, more often than not, you will tend to have about as much DNA from that lineage as the fractions would indicate. Back to my coin flipping example, it would be very unusual to get 100 coin flips out of 100 flips to be heads, most likely you’ll get between 40 and 60 coin flips out of 100 to be heads. The further you get from the average, the less likely it is to occur.
Which comes to another point, these autosomal DNA tests are a guide, not gospel. As they become more refined over time, results may change if you re-rest yourself. And I can guarantee the companies which sell these will be glad to offer the newest test at a pretty price. Research before you buy!
“Does this correlate in any way with dominant and recessive genes and traits?
It always seemed to me if I inherited the dominant Indian traits all down the lines that I could look very much like a GGGGrandmother.”
Whether a gene is dominant or recessive doesn’t have any thing to do with your chance of inheriting it. But it does have something to do with what you look like. I have light eyes and light hair, my siblings have black eyes and black hair. We both have the same parents, I just happened to inherit the recessive genes for light eyes and hair.
Highly unlikely you would look just like a ggggrandmother. You have 32 ggggrandparents, so each gene you inherit would have a 1 in 32 chance from coming from one person, multiply that by the thousands of genes that we have. But my nose does look just like one of my gggrandmother’s. Coyote can reshuffle our DNA in some interesting ways
Thanks again. It’s fascinating and fun to wonder about. And easier to relate to knowing it may be Coyote’s shenanigans!
Spilleddi pretty much nailed it.
Everyone should reread this thread in order to separate the layman’s understaning of DNA “testing” from the reported results of “products” offered which claim to be able to ID your “Ancestry”. The claims such people make are called ‘marketing’.
As always, one has to employ a bit of rational cynicism or someone ‘may’ have an acre of Florida you might ‘want’ to buy.
Which kind of DNA is being discussed in this thread?
The kind that identifies Indian % or the kind that identifies a paternal or maternal relationship?
Hi Collins,
I popped in @Roca’s test & post99.
I asked about a test I saw discussed on rootsweb @ post105
All tests discussed were Autosomal the % according to Bill @post103 & spilleddi @post 106
Percentage tests are very much questionable for many reasons.
I, however still believe that the DNA tests that show paternal and maternal links are pretty accurate if done through seperate labs. They still leave a lot to be disired, but certainly not something to be dismissed.
I’ve heard that the mtDNA tests a fraction of DNA which is passed from females to their children,both male and female,without change.So,theoretically, if a person’s mother and his/her 1st cousin’s mother were sisters,the mtDNA results should be the same.
A female 1st cousin of mine recently got interested in genealogy.Our mothers
are sisters and I had traced that mtDNA line earlier.But,she was hoping for more detail and used a different lab.
What was very strange is we tested with completely different haplogroups!:confused: I’ve tested L3;she tested as X.
According to Wikipedia,L3 is common in N Africa and X is found in 25% of
Algonquins.
Roca
Hmmmmm….. Thats odd.
I can only think of 2 reasons why you got the results you did. Either one of the labs screwed up, or you and your first cousin actually do not share a common maternal grandmother.
Perhaps you can share these results with the labs, and see if they can do a retest.
Spilleddi,
I think the labs must have screwed up.Maybe I’ll retest with one of these labs or try a 3rd lab.
Roca
You might want to try a disgruntled customer strategy, complain to both that somebody must have made a mistake and get them both to re-test and give you a credible scientific explanation for the discrepancy.
shoshone
I am interested in the DNA proccess, I don’t really know how to go about it, much less afford it but would like information anyway
shirley
I’m curious to know if i was to have a DNA test done if it would reveal my native american ancestry, as my line of Native descent is not in a straight maternal or paternal line of descent
Martha & Samuel Lowe ( Creek Indian )
Mary Parker & David Lowe
John Fish & Nancy Lowe
Alan T. Rogers & Sarah Fish
Mary Freeman & Robert Rogers
Wilburn Beard & Selma Rogers
Mary Thomas & Verlin Beard
Jeff Beard
Mary Polly Lynch ( Saponi ) & Isaac Harris ( Saponi )
Ruth Sellers & William Harris ( Saponi )
Jason Elliott & Rebecca Harris
Reuben Mills & Amelia Elliott
john Ensley & Rebecca Mills
James Blanton & Mary Mills
Charlie Thomas & Sadie Blanton
Verlin Beard & Mary Thomas
Jeff Beard
Nathan Thompson & Hester ( Gantanaga ) Black ( Cherokee )
Alexander Crisp & Mary Polly Thompson
Jane Sarah Allen & Nathan Crisp
Albert Mashburn & Margaret Crisp
John Freeman & Caroline Mashburn
Robert Rogers & Mary Freeman
wilburn Beard & Selma Rogers
Mary Thomas & Verlin Beard
Jeff Beard
As you can see I’m of Cherokee, Creek, and Saponi descent, but given the fact that my lines of descent with my native ancestry are not in a straight line of descent from father to son, or mother to daughter all the way down to me, would my native ancestry still show up on a DNA test ?
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