JCC Genetic testing (for ancestry, medical, etc.)

Hebrew isn't observable at the genetic level, Leonard.

 

Nonsense. I know when I sequence genomes, I write everything out as combinations of Gimel Aleph Taw and Kaph.


But seriously, while there is no haplogroup that would specifically tell you you had Jewish ancestry, there are other genetic markers and abnormalities that are found pretty much exclusively in Ashkenazi Jewish populations. So that is one thing they can tell you in any of the ancestral tests.

 

I'm scared as to what evil would become from the use of my superior DNA.

 

I'm with Ender, on the illness side I'd rather not know. Besides, all I have to do is look at the struggles my Dad and his sister are having with dementia to have a good idea where things are heading....


Who the hell are you people?! Get out of my phone!

 

It's interesting, because I had this convo with a friend a while back, along with the guy we know who works at 23andMe. My friend said he wasn't sure he'd want to know if for instance he had a gene for early Alzheimer's. And I can understand that perspective.

But for me I would much rather know. If I were going to have a high probability of dying or winding up unable to care for myself, I'd live my life quite differently. I wouldn't be near so worried about saving money, for instance.

 

Just what I always wanted!

What's your address, Punk?

 

I am interested.

I already know most of my ancestry so it'd be confirmation and maybe some cool new facts.

I'm actually most interested in EDS variants because of my dysautonomia. The geneticists here have no idea what they're doing, I figured the test would give me some idea. Until I found out they don't give you the raw data or any EDS variant data in the Canadian reports. I'm not sure about what the Canadian version gives you, even. I never did get that answer...only what it didn't give me.

 

I must say I've always wanted to do this myself. Both for ancestry confirmation as well as health knowledge due to not knowing half of my parentage. But the price tag….way too steep for me.

 

It is expensive. Hence why it's something I could only do by getting it as a Christmas present. I definitely would not have spent my own $200 on it, but hey that's what gifts are for. Even if they're really weird gifts.

Anne, that's very interesting. So your mother's father also has a dark complexion? Were there Roma coming to Sweden around the time the Walloons did?

Well that really sucks. I'm assuming it has something to do with the Canadian version of the FDA not allowing such direct to consumer testing or something... One of the benefits of it getting FDA approval in the US is that, in spite of $200 being a lot of money, it's still less than it would cost to actually have such complete testing done through a traditional doctor's order.

 

It sounds like Multiplicity.

 

Same for me.



I then did this other DNA test for the mitochondrial/Y-chromosome/haplogroup stuff, here:
https://www.familytreedna.com/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=/my/dashboard

That was interesting, especially the migration maps. I think it was my haplogroup on my matrilineal side started in Mongolia some 10,000 years ago, migrated to Mesopotamia around 2,000 years ago, and then settled in Scandinavia, then invaded France as Vikings. That last bit was already a family rumor though, my mother's mother is French-Canadian and the Viking ancestry was something that was already talked about but no one knew for sure if it was true.

And on my patrilineal haplogroup side, apparently they were the original Indo-Europeans, that orginated in Central Asia before splitting with half of them invading India as the Aryans, and the other half settling in Eastern Europe (and on my father's side in Poland). And I already knew my father's side was mostly Polish, so that made sense too, but it's cool to learn that the Indo-Europeans I learned about in history were my ancestors.



Ancestry.com was cheaper but it showed more than just my matrilineal side or patrilineal side, yet it was somewhat broad with some of its designations.

It confirmed the "Western European" part, and Irish, and Eastern European. But it also said I was about 15% Portuguese or Spanish, and that was a surprise. Also ~1% Jewish, which I began to suspect anyways looking into my family's history in Poland, with my great-grandfather apparently being a democratic activist around 1900 when the Czar of Russia controlled Poland. His immigration papers have him immigrating to the United States around 1909, but before that his vote registration for the first Duma identified him and his father as Jewish (or at least people with very similar names from the same town), which I also found on ancestry.com.


So that's my experience with them. No experience with 23 and me, but I might look into it for the health stuff.

 

On the ancestry side, the results would most likely be rather boring. My Mom is from Northern Germany (Bremen) my Dad from the south (Stuttgart). Maybe an Italian or Slavic slipped in there somewhere on my Dad's side. It's certainly possible that someone way back on my Mom's side is Dutch or Scandinavian.

But look at me: if there's a drop of African blood in me, then we need to throw out everything we think we know about genetics and start over again.

 

Too late to edit my other post, but to show the difference between those sites, rather than just tell:


Ancestry.com (general overview of all you ancestry, but rather broad categories, and mostly just your immediate ancestry)











Family Tree DNA (which doesn't do a general overview, but does show migration maps going back tens of thousands of years for your matrilineal side and patrilineal side):


matrilineal (mitochondrial... my mother's mother's mother's etc. One map is mine, one is my father's)



patrilineal (y chromosome, my father's father's father's)







Not sure what 23 and Me results look like.

 

I enjoy doing the DNA kits with my dogs. I'm most curious to see if sj turns out to be part schnauzer.

 

I did 23andMe. My neanderthal DNA was a little on the high end.
But my medical profile was outstanding, no disease markers so it's up to me to destroy my liver if I'm so inclined

 

I'd like to do it for medical purposes. For example, I would consider a mastectomy if I found out I had a high risk for developing breast cancer.

 

That's the main reason I'd consider doing this. One of my aunts and my grandma carried a particular gene that my sister and I have a 50% chance of carrying, so it's been recommended that we get tested to see if we carry it and blah blah blah. But it's so insanely expensive through a doctor while $200 is manageable.