Thursday, January 11, 2018

MyHeritageDNA Now Has a Chromosome Browser

As I was reviewing genealogy blogs this afternoon, I read Thomas MacEntee's post "MyHeritage DNA Free Chromosome Browser" on his Genealogy Bargains blog.

UPDATE:  The MyHeritage Blog post "Major Updates and Improvements to MyHeritage DNA Matching" was posted at 12:30 p.m. PST with more information.

I uploaded my raw DNA file from 23andMe to MyHeritageDNA last year, and have over 2,000 DNA matches on MyHeritageDNA at this time.

I will use my closest match as the example in this blog post (Note that I have blanked out names of other persons).  I have this close match in my tree and I know this person is my first cousin, twice removed.

1)  Here is my "Review DNA Match" information with my first cousin twice removed:


I share 2.5% (183.6 cM) of my DNA with my first cousin twice removed, in 9 segments, with the largest segment of 39.4 cM.

2)  The next item down this "Review DNA Matches" page is "Shared Matches" - testers who match myself and my cousin on our common DNA segments:


There are ten of these "Shared DNA Matches."

3)  The next chart down the page is "Shared Ethnicities:"


This chart shows that my cousin has a significant Irish, Scotland and Wales ancestry, a significant Scandinavia ancestry, and a significant East European ancestry.  I don't have any of those ethnicities, according to MyHeritageDNA.  This matches my knowledge of my cousin's family tree.

4)  Further down the "Review DNA Match" page is the chromosome browser:


The portions of the 22 chromosomes where my cousin and I have identical DNA segments are shown in lavender.  Although we share only 2.5% of the total, several of the segments are relatively large.

5)  The largest segment is on Chromosome 9, with 39,42 cM.  I ran my mouse over that large segment and saw more information about this segment:

In the upper right-hand corner of the image above is "Advanced options," where I can download all of the chromosome information on all of the matching segments.

6)  I am not sure how much of the "Review DNA Match" screen is new - my guess is that the new feature is the Chromosome browser.  This is an important feature that puts MyHeritageDNA analysis on an even technology field with the other major DNA test/analysis companies.

7)  I know that my cousin is a descendant of my grandparents, Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) and Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962), who resided in Massachusetts.  My cousin's grandfather is my first cousin.  

What this chromosome browser can be used for is to identify segments on the chromosomes that pertain to one or the other of my grandparents and their respective parents, etc.

If there is another DNA match on my list with a DNA segment within one of the segments in my cousin's segments, that means that they are descended from ancestors of one of my grandparents, although it may not be from one of my grandparents.

8)  Other DNA testing and analysis companies that provide Chromosome browsers include FamilyTreeDNA, 23andMe, and GEDMatch (and probably others I don't use).  At this point in time, AncestryDNA does not provide a Chromosome browser for some reason.  I, and everybody else, wishes that they would!  AncestryDNA testers can download their raw data and upload it to FamilyTreeDNA (for a free), to MyHeritageDNA (free) and to GEDMatch (free), and then see matches to testers on those sites.

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Disclosure:  I have a complimentary MyHeritage Data and Tree subscription, and have received material considerations from MyHeritage over the past eight years.  


Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver


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4 comments:

Unknown said...

You write that this first cousin twice removed is a child of your first cousin. I have been taught that the children of my first cousins are my first cousins once removed and that the grandchildren of my first cousins are my first cousins twice removed. My children are second cousins of my first cousin's children. This is how it is shown in a Cousins Chart in Family Tree Magazine. Am I missing something here? Did I misunderstand what you wrote? I would appreciate it if you could clear up my confusion on this relationship.

Galen

Randy Seaver said...

Hi Galen,

You are correct, my first cousin is the DNA tester's grandfather, not the father.

The highly paid editor of Genea-Musings had a brain fade and missed the error. He has been reprimanded. So has the author, who shares the same brain as the editor.

I corrected the error in the text. Thank you for pointing it out.

Fax said...

Hooray! Now we can use these matches with DNAPainter.

Doris

Unknown said...

Last night myheritage released their new one to many chromosome browser!