You first learned about DNA in high school biology. You probably then did your best to forget about DNA until about a decade ago when DNA testing became a reality as an affordable, relatively speaking, individual identifier and tool for tracking one’s family history. Now every genealogist is a DNA expert. Right? OK, probably not. The language and process of DNA testing is still a science with words that belong to scientists, all of which can be difficult for the rest of us to understand. In addition, there have been so many recent books and articles on the subject it can be easy to get confused over all the types of tests, let alone just trying to get a general understanding of the whole practice.
Finally, someone has come up with a guide to help genealogist understand the basics of DNA, DNA testing, and how each type of test may benefit the genealogists. Genealogy Gems Publications has put together a series of laminated guides under the series title, Your DNA Guide. Each one will be outlined in its own blog post. The four guides are:
- Getting Started: Genetics for the Genealogist
- Y Chromosome DNA for the Genealogist
- Mitochondrial DNA for the Genealogist
- Autosomal DNA for the Genealogist
Each guide follows the popular standard as four laminated pages in a single center folded guide measuring 8.5 x 11 inches. In Y Chromosome DNA for the Genealogist, you will learn about testing for male ancestry, hence the “Y.” You also get to learn about haplotypes and groups, and of course, markers.
Here is a contents list based on specific headers in the guide:
- Is this Test for Me?
- Why the Y?
- What do I get?
- Your Haplotype
- How many Markers Should be Tested
- Which Testing Company?
- Marker Setting
- Total Number of Matches
- Genetic Distance
- Name
- Information Column
- Most Distant Ancestor
- Deep Ancestry Information
- TiP
- 12 Marker Matches
- Your Haplogroup
- Getting Tested
There are also embedded FAQs as well as spotlighted information. Each guide was written by Diahan Southard (who worked for Sorenson Molecular)
Order copies of Y Chromosome DNA for the Genealogist from Family Roots Publishing.