The Genetic Genealogist

An Updated Y-DNA Tree at ISOGG

The International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) announced today that their Tree Team has completed the 2008 version of the Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree. This revision was a major undertaking, because, as ISOGG states in the version history, “[t]he Karafet et al paper (2008) required a significant revision to the tree and affected all haplogroups.” The reference for this paper is (Karafet T M, Mendez F L, Meilerman M B, Underhill P A, Zegura S L, Hammer M F, (2008).
New Binary Polymorphisms Reshape and Increase Resolution of the Human Y-Chromosomal Haplogroup Tree. Abstract. Genome Research, published online April 2, 2008. Supplementary Material.). From ISOGG’s official release:

MAY 04, 2008 – The 2008 version of the ISOGG Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree is now available online: http://www.isogg.org/tree/. New to the tree is a haplogroup conversion table which is downloadable in MS Word. If you do not have MS Word/MS Office, you can download openoffice.org for a compatible word processing program. Appreciation goes to Richard Kenyon and Charles Moore for their work on compiling this table.

Thanks to Alice Fairhurst and the entire ISOGG Tree Team for all of their hard work and dedication. Added thanks for consultation goes to Jim Wilson, Dennis Garvey, Ken Nordtvedt, and Natalie Myres on various haplogroups. Additional appreciation to Charles Moore (Hg D) and Vincent Vizachero (Hg R) for joining the Content Team Experts.

The site also has a Haplogroup Conversion Table (MS Word) to convert a 2007 haplogroup to an updated 2008 haplogroup.

Updates at FTDNA and ySearch

The Karafet et al paper also resulted in updates to haplogroup designations at Family Tree DNA and ySearch. Users who have tested their Y-DNA through FTDNA or have created a profile at ySearch automatically had their haplogroup designation updated this morning (May 5th, 2008). For instance, before the update my haplogroup was R1b1c9a. After the update, the haplogroup is called R1b12a1c.

New Deep Clade Tests Reflects Changes

As a result of the SNPs analyzed in the Karafet et al paper, Family Tree DNA has updated their “Deep Clade” SNP tests. From the official announcement this morning:

New SNPs and haplogroup branches have been discovered and published, which have now been integrated into the Deep Clade testing panels. Customers who are currently waiting for Deep Clade test results will automatically be upgraded to the new testing panels at no additional fee. Participants who previously ordered Deep Clade tests and for whom some new SNPs may be informative will be offered a Deep Clade test extension, as applicable.

The new Deep Clade testing system is designed to determine a participant’s placement on the haplogroup tree. The test begins with their predicted haplogroup and tests whatever SNPs are necessary in order to determine their haplogroup assignment on the tree. Results of all SNPs tested are reported to the customer as they are completed.

Deep Clade tests are available for haplogroups E1b1b, G, I, J, and R (includes R1a, R1b, and integrates the U series SNPs within R1b).

To order the test, FTDNA users should check under the “Haplogroup” page on the left side of their personal page. Note that the FTDNA tests do not incorporate all the SNPs used by the ISOGG Tree Team to create the updated 2008 Y-DNA Tree. The ISOGG tree uses some SNPs that are new, provisional, or private and are not yet used by testing companies.