FAQ
How can I get involved and contribute to the research done by the project?
By confirming your position in the tree through testing. Every single confirmed sample helps us define the boundaries of existing SNP's, and without your test results there would be no project.
By providing information on your most distant ancestor, and the likely location of their ancestry. Ideally, this is the ancestral location before the age of migrations (+500 years ago). For ethnic Europeans this should be the likely region of origin in Europe.
By having next generation Gen Y sequencing (like BigY). This covers a large part of the Y genome and is instrumental in helping us identify new subgroups. If you are interested in this, consider contacting the project administrator first as he can explain the likely benefits to yourself and the project in the context of the testing you have done so far.
By contributing to the project fund. We are all volunteers with no other source of funding for the project, and access to some funds means we can test targeted samples for the benefit of the wider haplogroup.
What test should I order to confirm my position on the tree?
This will vary depending on your marker results and prior testing. We recommend contacting the project administrator who will gladly provide personalized advice on the most cost effective test. In principle, avoid the FTDNA recommendation as provided in the "Y-DNA Haplotree" screen, as not all the items there are relevant and will often result in wasteful testing. Specifically for the U1 part of the tree, PF6858 and PF7506 are of dubious value so best avoided.
How many STR markers should I order?
It is almost impossible to predict a subgroup based on 12 or 25 STR markers. Our recommendation is 67 markers since that is the standard used by ISOGG to determine genetic distance for the purpose of validating new subgroups. Unless you have a lot of very close matches (extremely rare in G-U1) upgrading to 111 STR markers is usually a waste of money. It is important to understand that upgrading to more makers will NOT provide you with additional matches.
Should I order the G-SNP deep clade test?
It depends on your prior testing. In principle, if you are in the "U1 predicted" category this will almost always be the most cost effective test, but if you are currently assigned to another subgroup, it will often be cheaper to target one or two individual SNP's. It is recommended to contact the project administrator to make sure.
My haplogroup designation provided by FTDNA is different to the one assigned by the project, which one is correct?
The "Y-DNA Haplotree" used by FTDNA is not updated as often as the ISOGG (International Society Of Genetic Genealogists) tree, so it is best to ignore their designation. Your correct designation is the terminal SNP as listed in the colored band above your name in the project roster.
What do the groupings in the project roster signify?
As an example, if the grouping reads "U1, L13, Z2022, Z6759, Z6764, Z29424, L1263" your haplogroup designation is G-L1263, meaning L1263 is your terminal SNP. The preceding SNP's are a notation convention we use to reflect the branching of the tree. The Links page contains a link to the latest status diagram (G-U1 Status Diagram) which places your terminal SNP within the G-U1 tree.
In some cases you might additionally be part of an STR marker based subgroup, for example "U1, L13, Z2022, DYS446>18". This means your haplogroup designation is G-Z2022 but that you are also part of a cluster of men within that subgroup who share a marker oddity (in this case, the rare DYS446>18 value) and are close genetic matches. If someone in that group has next generation sequencing we can usually replace that with a more reliable SNP, so men in these subgroups are ideal candidates for this type of testing.
What happened to the G2a... designations?
Because of the accelerating discovery of new subgroups, the G2a style designations were becoming unwieldy, and FTDNA and the haplogroup projects are now using the terminal SNP designation instead. If you are interested in the G2a... equivalent of your subgroup, you can still find it on "Ray's composite Y-DNA tree" (via the Links page). But bear in mind these change quite often as the tree is re-shuffled to accommodate new subgroups at different levels.
How do you identify and validate new subgroups?
This process relies in large part on members ordering next generation tests like BigY, and works as follows:
1. A project member confirmed in a particular area of the tree orders a BigY or Full Genomes test
2. Once the test is completed, they request the BAM file (=raw data) and forward to Ray Banks (who is and administrator of this project and the content expert for Haplogroup G for ISOGG)
2. Ray analyses the results and identifies potential SNP based subgroups
3. These are then validated and placed on the official G Haplotree (available from the Links page)
4. We (as in the project administrators) find men who are likely to belong to this new subgroup by looking at genetic distance to the confirmed man, and invite them to test
5. f they test positive for the new SNP we expand our knowledge about the subgroup in two ways: if they have documented ancestry we can start pinpointing geographical roots, AND we get a feeling for what sort of STR markers we need to look at in finding other men with that SNP.
6. If they test negative we know this men's particular markers are outside the boundary of coverage for this SNP
7. A project member confirmed in a particular area of the tree orders a BigY or Full Genomes test, etc...
So this is in essence an iterative process to get closer and closer to the present time by identifying and validating branches of the haplo tree.
By confirming your position in the tree through testing. Every single confirmed sample helps us define the boundaries of existing SNP's, and without your test results there would be no project.
By providing information on your most distant ancestor, and the likely location of their ancestry. Ideally, this is the ancestral location before the age of migrations (+500 years ago). For ethnic Europeans this should be the likely region of origin in Europe.
By having next generation Gen Y sequencing (like BigY). This covers a large part of the Y genome and is instrumental in helping us identify new subgroups. If you are interested in this, consider contacting the project administrator first as he can explain the likely benefits to yourself and the project in the context of the testing you have done so far.
By contributing to the project fund. We are all volunteers with no other source of funding for the project, and access to some funds means we can test targeted samples for the benefit of the wider haplogroup.
What test should I order to confirm my position on the tree?
This will vary depending on your marker results and prior testing. We recommend contacting the project administrator who will gladly provide personalized advice on the most cost effective test. In principle, avoid the FTDNA recommendation as provided in the "Y-DNA Haplotree" screen, as not all the items there are relevant and will often result in wasteful testing. Specifically for the U1 part of the tree, PF6858 and PF7506 are of dubious value so best avoided.
How many STR markers should I order?
It is almost impossible to predict a subgroup based on 12 or 25 STR markers. Our recommendation is 67 markers since that is the standard used by ISOGG to determine genetic distance for the purpose of validating new subgroups. Unless you have a lot of very close matches (extremely rare in G-U1) upgrading to 111 STR markers is usually a waste of money. It is important to understand that upgrading to more makers will NOT provide you with additional matches.
Should I order the G-SNP deep clade test?
It depends on your prior testing. In principle, if you are in the "U1 predicted" category this will almost always be the most cost effective test, but if you are currently assigned to another subgroup, it will often be cheaper to target one or two individual SNP's. It is recommended to contact the project administrator to make sure.
My haplogroup designation provided by FTDNA is different to the one assigned by the project, which one is correct?
The "Y-DNA Haplotree" used by FTDNA is not updated as often as the ISOGG (International Society Of Genetic Genealogists) tree, so it is best to ignore their designation. Your correct designation is the terminal SNP as listed in the colored band above your name in the project roster.
What do the groupings in the project roster signify?
As an example, if the grouping reads "U1, L13, Z2022, Z6759, Z6764, Z29424, L1263" your haplogroup designation is G-L1263, meaning L1263 is your terminal SNP. The preceding SNP's are a notation convention we use to reflect the branching of the tree. The Links page contains a link to the latest status diagram (G-U1 Status Diagram) which places your terminal SNP within the G-U1 tree.
In some cases you might additionally be part of an STR marker based subgroup, for example "U1, L13, Z2022, DYS446>18". This means your haplogroup designation is G-Z2022 but that you are also part of a cluster of men within that subgroup who share a marker oddity (in this case, the rare DYS446>18 value) and are close genetic matches. If someone in that group has next generation sequencing we can usually replace that with a more reliable SNP, so men in these subgroups are ideal candidates for this type of testing.
What happened to the G2a... designations?
Because of the accelerating discovery of new subgroups, the G2a style designations were becoming unwieldy, and FTDNA and the haplogroup projects are now using the terminal SNP designation instead. If you are interested in the G2a... equivalent of your subgroup, you can still find it on "Ray's composite Y-DNA tree" (via the Links page). But bear in mind these change quite often as the tree is re-shuffled to accommodate new subgroups at different levels.
How do you identify and validate new subgroups?
This process relies in large part on members ordering next generation tests like BigY, and works as follows:
1. A project member confirmed in a particular area of the tree orders a BigY or Full Genomes test
2. Once the test is completed, they request the BAM file (=raw data) and forward to Ray Banks (who is and administrator of this project and the content expert for Haplogroup G for ISOGG)
2. Ray analyses the results and identifies potential SNP based subgroups
3. These are then validated and placed on the official G Haplotree (available from the Links page)
4. We (as in the project administrators) find men who are likely to belong to this new subgroup by looking at genetic distance to the confirmed man, and invite them to test
5. f they test positive for the new SNP we expand our knowledge about the subgroup in two ways: if they have documented ancestry we can start pinpointing geographical roots, AND we get a feeling for what sort of STR markers we need to look at in finding other men with that SNP.
6. If they test negative we know this men's particular markers are outside the boundary of coverage for this SNP
7. A project member confirmed in a particular area of the tree orders a BigY or Full Genomes test, etc...
So this is in essence an iterative process to get closer and closer to the present time by identifying and validating branches of the haplo tree.