Ian Dundas asked: “If someone has previously uploaded their aDNA file from Ancestry and paid to have it unlocked, is there any benefit in having FTDNA do the FamilyFinder test as well? I already have the Big Y-700 and the full mtDNA.”

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I’ve not seen any direct comparisons of autosomal matches with a Family Finder test and an Ancestry upload. However, the companies have used different microarrays at different times. This means that there is sometimes very low SNP overlap. See the ISOGG autosomal SNP comparison chart comparing the overlap with the different chips.

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This low SNP overlap can affect the matching process. I have two different tests at MyHeritage and I get markedly different numbers of matches:

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• With my Ancestry transfer (tested on the Illumina OmniExpress) I have 10,379 matches
• With my direct test at MyHeritage on the Global Screening Array I have 8,946 matches

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In practical terms the difference in matches is not an issue as it’s the low matches are affected. MyHeritage has a major problem with false matches and inflated cM totals so I don’t trust matches there much under 30 cM anyway and have even had problems with matches up to 50 cM.

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I suspect that from an autosomal point of view there is probably little if anything to be gained by doing a new test at FamilyTreeDNA. The FTDNA autosomal DNA database is very small and you’re going to get the vast majority of your best matches at AncestryDNA.

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If you’ve done the BigY test and the mtDNA full sequence test, you are not going to receive any new information from the small number of Y-SNPs and mtDNA SNPs on the Family Finder chip. Microarrays are only testing known SNPs so there is no scope for discovery.

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For someone who hasn’t done any Y-DNA testing then I think there are considerable benefits for males taking a Family Finder test direct with FTDNA rather than transferring from AncestryDNA as FTDNA treat the results very differently. Here is the information provided by FTDNA to group administrators about the differences:

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“Customers who transferred from Ancestry or 23andMe and have unlocked their transfer will be able to view their Y-DNA haplogroup, but it will not be used in the Y-DNA haplotree or Discover? statistics, nor will their matches or group projects be able to view it.

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Customers who tested with MyHeritage and Vitagene and have unlocked their transfers will be visible to matches.

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Customers who took a Family Finder test directly with FamilyTreeDNA will be able to see:

• Y-DNA haplogroup badge (confirmed haplogroup)
• Y-STR Results section with Y-DNA haplotree & Y-SNPs and Discover reports
• Y-SNP download file under Family Finder Results–Download Raw Data

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Like a customer who has done a Y-STR or Big Y test:

• Their Y-DNA haplogroup will be counted in the Haplotree and Discover statistics
• Their matches will be able to view their Y-DNA haplogroup,
• The Y-DNA haplogroup will be visible in Group Projects (if they have a test that shows up in project reports).

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Y-STR Tests and Autosomal Tests in Group Projects

• For project members who have Y-STR tests and an Ancestry or 23andMe transfer, their STR-predicted Y-DNA haplogroup will show in the project.
• For project members have a Y-STR test and a MyHeritage or Vitagene transfer, their Family Finder Y-DNA haplogroup will show in the project.
• For project members who do not have a Y-STR test but are in Group Projects, their Y-DNA haplogroup will show under the SNP Report if it is from a Family Finder test or an unlocked MyHeritage/Vitagene transfer.
• For project members with Ancestry and 23andMe unlocked transfers, their Y-DNA haplogroup from Family Finder will not have display on the Y-SNP report.”

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Best wishes

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Debbie Kennett