The Genetic Genealogist

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by Spencer Wells, director of the Genographic Project from National Geographic and IBM.

The talk was a Syracuse Symposium event, and the first big event ever to be held in Syracuse University’s new $110 million Life Sciences Center.  I thought it was fitting that the first event to celebrate the future of the new life sciences building was a lecture that examined the collective genetic journey of mankind.

Dr. Wells began by giving the audience a very brief introduction about DNA and genetic genealogy.  He included a great quote that “The question of origin is actually a question about genealogy.”  For those that are not familiar with the Genographic Project, it was launched in 2005 and includes three primary missions:

1. Global DNA sampling from indigenous and traditional cultures which retain a geographic link with their current location;
2. Public participation; and
3. The legacy fund, which is funded by the public participation aspect of the project and aims to “empower indigenous and traditional peoples by supporting locally-led efforts.”

Dr. Wells is a great speaker and the hour-long lecture went by extremely quickly.  Some of the more interesting information he shared is not readily available on the Genographic Project’s website:

• According to current projections, the project is about halfway finished and is predicted to end in 2011.
• So far, 41,000 samples have been collected from indigenous populations, and 270,000 kits have been purchased by public participants in 130 countries (currently at about 800 kits ordered per week!).
• The indigenous DNA samples are stored for future analysis – this will undoubtedly be an irreplaceable asset as indigenous populations continue to decline (although it does raise issues of informed consent; do indigenous people really understand the information?).
• Eventually, the Genographic Project’s database will be searchable.

Valuable Research

He also highlighted the previous papers that resulted in party from the Genographic Project, including:

• The Genographic Project Public Participation Mitochondrial DNA Database
• The Dawn of Human Matrilineal Diversity
• Y-Chromosomal Diversity in Lebanon Is Structured by Recent Historical Events
• Identifying Genetic Traces of Historical Expansions: Phoenician Footprints in the Mediterranean

A new paper, soon to be released, will examine the genetic ancestry of the Toubou people indigenous to northern Chad in Saharan Africa.  The Toubou people have a rich and interesting history, but their actual genetic roots are unclear.  According to Sougoui, a Toubou:

“The Genographic Project is a great opportunity for us, the Toubou, because we are a people who are extremely interested in our origins… According to Toubou legend, we are a people who came from different places. This is a question that we continually talk about. We are anxiously waiting for the results of this study to answer this question for us. It is important for us as Toubou to know where we came from, how we got separated from other peoples, and how we actually fit into the world God created.”

Dr. Wells showed a short clip of a new documentary that is being made about the Genographic Project.  In the clip, we were shown the challenges of collecting DNA from the Toubou; looks like it will be another very interesting documentary.  See more about the Toubou project here and here.

The Q&A Session

During the Q&A session, someone asked what regions are missing from the database.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, the answer was the Americas and Australia.  Apparently the Project has had a very difficult time getting permission to take samples from these populations.

Many of the questions reflected the fact that many people are confused about the inheritance of Y-DNA and mtDNA.  Half the them were about whether a child or a sibling would have the same or different Y-DNA or mtDNA.

Conclusion

Dr. Wells is a great lecturer, and I highly recommend watching him speak if you are ever able to do so.  I learned a great deal about the Genographic Project, and I look forward to the information that will continue to be released from this valuable endeavor.

Image via Wikipedia

New research from Mark Jobling’s lab at the University of Leicester suggests that Y-DNA can be used to determine a male’s surname.

I know, I know, this is obvious to anyone who is familiar with genetic genealogy.  Just check out the many instances of this type of determination at ISOGG’s Success Stories website, for example.  However, as you’ll see below, this research has resulted in some new and interesting information.

Method

Dr. Turi King, who conducted the research, recruited over 2,500 men with roughly 500 different surnames to submit Y-DNA samples.  The sample set included a group not sharing surnames as well as sets of men (between 2 and 180) who shared a surname (including recognized variants).  She then typed 9 SNPs and 17 STRs.  There’s much more information about this research at the Jobling lab’s website regarding this project.

Results

Although this research may seem obvious, what makes it interesting are the actual statistics.  According to Dr. King’s research, there is a 24% chance that two men who share the same surname share a common ancestor through that name, and this increases to nearly 50% if the surname they share is rare. Keep in mind, of course, that this study was conducted solely in the U.K., so it is unclear how it applies to other countries.  From the press release:

“Dr King then went on to look at 40 surnames in depth by recruiting many different men all bearing the same surname, making sure that she excluded known relatives. Surnames such as Attenborough and Swindlehurst showed that over 70% of the men shared the same or near identical Y chromosome types whereas surnames such as Revis, Wadsworth and Jefferson show more than one group of men sharing common ancestry but unrelated to other groups.”

Implications

The implications of Dr. King’s research have strong significance for genetic genealogists, but the press release focused only on forensic science, stating that “the fact that such a strong link exists between surname and Y chromosome type has a potential use in forensic science, since it suggests that, given large databases of names and Y chromosome profiles, surname prediction from DNA alone may be feasible.”

For more analysis, see Anthropology.net.

The Personal Genome Project (PGP) was established to analyze and publicly share the genomes and personal information of up to 100,000 volunteers in order to advance understanding of “genetic and environmental contributions to human traits and to improve our ability to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness.”  In the first phase of the PGP, ten volunteers (the “First 10″ – see information about the First 10 here on my blog and at the PGP website) have had their DNA analyzed and have given their personal information.

Last month, George Church, the PGP’s principal investigator, reported that the project expected to publish data about the First 10 on its website in mid- to late October.  Church might have meant genotype (i.e. sequencing) information, since some information about phenotype, health history, and medication has already been posted on the PGP website.  There is information about each of the 10 participants, although there is currently no active link to their genetic information:

1. George Church
2. John Halamka
3. Esther Dyson
4. Misha Angrist
5. Kirk M. Maxey
6. Stan Lapidus
7. Keith Batchelder
8. Steven Pinker
9. Rosalynn Gill
10. James Sherley

Note that the First 10 are listed as “Participant #1″, “#2″, etc.  I debated about whether or not to attempt to identify them based on sex, ancestry, and date of birth, but since it was so simple to do that I decided to assign a name to the Participant number (I’m pretty sure I got them all right, depending on the quality of the source information I was able to find online).  Indeed, the PGP has clearly stated over and over that anonymity cannot be guaranteed for participants.  Additionally, I’ve always felt that one of the goals of the first phase of the PGP was to educate people about the effects of making your genomic sequencing information and health information freely available online.  Some would argue that the effects are completely or mostly dangerous, while others would argue that the effects are completely or mostly benign.  The PGP might help examine some of these questions.

There’s more information about the PGP in a recent Wired article.  HT: twitter from Jason Bobe of The Personal Genome.

Last week, Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings posed a genetic genealogy question on his blog.  I posted a possible solution in the comments there, but I am asked this question regularly and thought I would discuss it here.

At a recent meeting that Randy attended, a woman in the audience asked the speaker:

“I don’t know who my father is. He and my mother had relations in Naples, Italy back in the 1950’s and I was born. I have no siblings. My mother did not tell me his name and there is no father’s name on my birth certificate. Can DNA research help me?”

This particular situation is exceptionally challenging.  If the child had been a boy, he would have his father’s Y-DNA and a decent chance at identifying his father’s surname (and thus could perhaps further elucidate his actual identity with the combination of DNA research and traditional genealogical research).  If the unknown parent had been the mother, the daughter would possess the unknown parent’s mtDNA and a remote but possible chance of finding an mtDNA match and using traditional genealogical techniques to identify the mother.

The Question

Given this situation, Randy asked:

“Are there any other opportunities based on the whole genome of this woman, comparing the genome of her mother (assuming a sample is available), and determining the parts of her DNA she inherited from her father, then finding a match somehow with genomes of persons in Italy? That’s a big order, but it might be possible at some time in the future. Perhaps there are sperm bank or criminal blood samples from the time period in Naples that could be compared. Is that too far-fetched? Even for 20 years from now?”

My response

I agree that AS OF TODAY, there is little to no hope that the woman will discover the identity of her father.  However, people almost always believe that this mystery will never be resolved because there is no Y-DNA or mtDNA solution.  Of course, as we all know, the child inherited 50% of her genome from her father. It is my hypothesis that somewhere in that DNA is a clue to her father’s ancestry which can ultimately be used to identify her father.

How will autosomal (non-sex chromosome) DNA reveal her father’s identity?  As genomic sequencing becomes cheaper and cheaper, it will be possible to sequence an entire genome relatively cheap (first under $1,000, then eventually under $100).  With this technology, genealogical and medical organizations will use vast autosomal DNA and family chart databases to trace genes and mutations through genealogies.  SMGF, for example, is already collecting both DNA and family charts, and is set to release the Sorenson Autosomal Database in the near future.

Additionally, earlier this year a deadly mutation that leads to colon cancer was traced to an English couple that emigrated to the United States in 1630, almost 400 years ago.  Although not everyone with this mutation is descended from this couple, many are; thus, if you have the mutation, it is very possible that you are descended from this couple and this would provide a clue to your ancestry that could be explored with traditional genealogical research.  With cheap sequencing scientists and genealogists will be able to trace unimportant ‘quiet’ mutations through time and genealogies, just as scientists have already done with health-related mutations.

So how will all this help the woman identify her father? Someday in the very near future she will be able to query her genome against a database of genomes and ancestries.  Just as a deadly colon cancer mutation can be linked to a certain family, it is likely that the woman has one or more random mutations in her genome that are linked to certain families.  Using traditional genealogical research (to rule out inheritance of those mutations through her mother, for example) and genetic technology, she might be able to use that knowledge to identify possible sources of half her DNA.

Caveats

The scenario I posit requires two things which are not currently available:

1. Cheap and widely-available genomic sequencing; and
2. One or more databases compiling autosomal DNA and genealogies which can be queried.

Ethical Concerns

For most people, being able to identify your own ancestors based on your own DNA poses few if any ethical dilemmas.  However, what if your neighbor or your stalker or even law enforcement wants to use a sample of your DNA to identify your ancestors? Additionally, what if your living ancestor doesn’t wish to be identified?  Does the ancestor have that right, or is possible identification through genetic genealogy just one of the consequences of parenting a child anonymously or simply having sex with another person?

On December 30th, 2007, I blogged the following:

“[A]ffordable whole-genome sequencing is getting closer and closer every day (my prediction – which is based solely on my own educated guess – is that I will be able to sequence my entire genome for $1,000 or less by the end of 2009).”

It was pretty bold at the time, and I’ve since wondered if I was too optimistic, but now comes news that at least one other person agrees with my prediction.  Harvard professor and genetics researcher George Church – also principal investigator for the Personal Genome Project (PGP) – stated at two conferences, one last week and one this week, that by mid-October of 2008, 36-fold coverage of the human genome will be available for $5,000.  Church went on to say that the $1,000 human genome will be available by the end of 2009.

For more information about Church’s statements, see “PGP to Publish Initial Data Sets Next Month As Church Predicts $1,000 Genome in 2009” (registration required) at In Sequence, and a blog post by John Moore of Chilmark Research who attended a “Personal Genomics” session at this year’s EmTech (where Church reiterated the $5,000 and $1,000 hallmarks) .

The Personal Genome Project

At the same Yale University symposium where he discussed the crashing price of sequencing, Church announced that the PGP plans to publish data gathered from the “First 10″ (see here and here for the identities and backgrounds of the First 10) on October 21st at the PGP website.  These 10 volunteers will meet on October 20th to review their data and give permission to proceed.

Also, according to the In Sequence article, Church has indicated that “approximately 5,000 volunteers are currently ‘queued up at the entrance exam stage’” for the next round of the PGP.

Yesterday I wrote about 23andMe’s decision to lower their price to $399 (down from $999) while adding more genealogically-relevant SNPs and partnering with Ancestry.com.  Although I don’t have any further information about the new SNPs, I’ve seen a couple of interesting articles about the price drop around the blogosphere.

Aaron Rowe at Wired science writes “Human Genetics is Now a Viable Hobby.”  He notes that the new price is “well within the reach of cash-strapped grad students, frugal genealogy buffs and other not-so-early adopters.”  The comment thread is an interesting read as well.

“Cheap as chips”

Daniel MacArthur of Genetic Future writes “Cheap as chips: 23andMe slashes the price of personal genomics” at his new scienceblogs location.  Daniel also notes that the updated product “will certainly be popular with genetic genealogists” because of the addition of Y-DNA and mtDNA SNPs, and agrees with my hypothesis that other companies will follow suit and lower their prices.  Daniel also mentions the Personalized Medicine Collaborative (PMC) at the Coriell Institute for Medical Research, which is offering free personal genome scans to 10,000 individuals this year.

The Death of DTC Genetics?

Andrew Yates at Think Gene has suggested that free testing by the PMC will kill Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) genetics.  However, as Ann Turner commented on his post, the PMC does not return raw data, only interpretation of items they consider “medically actionable.”  This is the exact reason why PMC will not kill all DTC testing.  I think Andrew fails to appreciate that this is not a new world of genetic testing; genetic genealogists have been doing this for over 8 years now, and all we care about is the raw data.  The more raw data, the better.  Thus, history suggest that at least to the early adopters, raw data is vital.  Andrew answers Ann’s concerns by saying:

“So? I don’t get back the raw data of any other medical tests I take. If you just want a SNP sample of your genome because it’s cool, go buy a 23andMe or deCODEme test. That’s like getting an x-ray because you “want to see what your bones look like.” OK, some people may want to do this… and hey, I bought a 23andMe test for this reason… but most people aren’t choosing their x-ray test provider based on whether they get to keep their x-rays. “

But genetic genealogists (and undoubtedly many others) DO chose their testing provider based on the results they receive.  Sure, we like to know which haplogroup we fit into, but ultimately the most useful aspect of genetic genealogy is the comparison of Y-STR numbers (i.e. the raw data).  And genetic genealogy is an enormous market that has yet to be completely tapped.

(The other problem with Andrew’s assertion is that interpretation of genetic information (unlike a broken bone in an x-ray) varies; a SNP might mean one thing to company A based on study X, while it means another to company B based on study Y.  And this is, of course, an unavoidable result of the current stage of genomic science.  But why should I rely on just one source to interpret my genetic data?  Why can’t I interpret it myself or allow another entity to interpret it?  This is why entities such as SNPedia have recently been created.  After all, to use an analogy, aren’t you supposed to get a second opinion from a different doctor?)

And last but certainly not least, David P. Hamilton at bnet writes “23andMe’s Price Cut: The End of Commerical Personal Genomics?“  David suggests that 23andMe’s price cut is “an attempt to jump-start the data collection in order to kick the real money engine [data mining a large database of genotype/phenotype information created by 23andMe] into gear.”  However, he notes that this is a problem because it is difficult to extract phenotypic information from users, and because scientists can now afford to do their own large-scale genomic studies as the result of lowering prices (and free tests via the PMC).

Last week the genetic genealogy community lost one of its treasured members, Leo W. Little.

Leo’s passing was announced on the GENEALOGY-DNA mailing list on Sunday evening. Since then, many members of that mailing list, the ISOGG Yahoo Group, and the DNA- ANTHROGENEALOGY Yahoo Group have expressed their sympathy to Leo’s family and expressed their admiration for his work and contributions to the field of genetic genealogy.

Leo was the administrator of at least two DNA Projects, including the null439 DNA Project, and the Little DNA Project. The null439 group was begun by Leo after he helped characterize the “Little SNP” in 2002, a SNP that is also called “L1″ or “S26″. In 2005 Leo posted an email to the GENEALOGY-DNA that explained the discovery of the SNP, which defines the R1b1b2a1c Haplogroup in the new 2008 ISOGG Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree (previously known as R1b1c9a). The L1 SNP causes the primers used by Family Tree DNA to analyze Y-STR repeats at DYS439 to fail to anneal, and thus no result is recorded for that locus (i.e., it is “null”). The result is recorded as a default 12 with a blue asterisk. Here is Leo’s description from the null439 page:

“SNPs are passed down from father to son, and all males with a null439 SNP descend from a common ancestor who lived within the last 5000 years. Most null439 males with known origins have roots in England or Germany. The null439 SNP is also called “L1” or “S26“. L1/S26 is carried by about a half of one percent of R1b males. All males with L1/S26 also have the SNP “S21” (also known as “U106“) which defines the R1b1b2g subgroup (formerly R1b1c9).”

The null439 Project currently has at least 83 members, including myself. In June 2006 my Y-DNA analysis revealed that I have the L1 SNP and thus had no result at DYS439. When I joined the null439 project at FTDNA, Leo promptly emailed me and welcomed me to the group.

Other Contributions

But the S26 SNP and the null429 group are just a few of Leo’s contributions to the field. Other work includes his incredibly useful “Eclectic Genetic Genealogy Information” page, or a number of articles at the Little DNA Project (including this one entitled “Tracing the Borders Littles through DNA Testing“). Indeed, a search of the GENEALOGY-DNA archives reveals at least 150 messages posted by Leo’s email address (lwlittle@yahoo.com), and a search of his name reveals many more messages in which he was mentioned. Leo was a consultant for the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, a member of the following organizations: the Association of Professional Genealogists, the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, and the Austin Genealogical Society. In July 2005, Leo’s work was highlighted in an article from Time magazine entitled “Can DNA Reveal Your Roots?“:

“One of the less controversial aspects of genetic genealogy is its ability to help people fill in gaps in their family tree. Leo Little, a retired engineer in Austin, Texas, had used historical records to trace his lineage back to his great-great-grandfather Thomas Little, who was born in Alabama in 1816. Then, he says, “I hit a brick wall. I knew my Littles were from the South, but there were a lot of Littles from the South, and it was impossible to sort out.” After he took a DNA test from Family Tree DNA, he began leading one of the company’s 1,900 surname projects, in this case checking test results on Littles. As a result, he has identified three distant cousins. By pooling their family records, the cousins have been able to trace their roots all the way back to 1680.”

Since Leo’s passing was so unexpected, the family is still dealing with the shock. On Monday, Terry Barton posted to the ISOGG Yahoo Group that the family had been contacted, and that Mrs. Little had requested that there be “no phone calls, no emails, no cards, no contact of any kind.” She did mention the possibility of a memorial fund in the future. Additionally, Mrs. Little indicated that she would try to respond to Leo’s emails at some point.

If you would like to leave a comment below, I will compile them and send them in letter to Mrs. Little when she is ready to receive mail. In addition, this post will be available indefinitely as a memorial to Leo Little. Thank you to Katherine Hope Borges for her assistance in completing this post.

UPDATE From Katherine (May 27 2008):

Leo was heavily involved in his church history project and donations may be made in his name to (with thanks to Derrell and Terry for sharing this info):

Highland Park Baptist Church
5206 Balcones Drive
Austin TX 78731

In DNA Fund, we will have fund designated for a “Leo Little Memorial Scholarship”, but since the 501(c)(3) is not yet in effect, contributions are not tax-deductible. However, contributions may be sent to DNA Fund’s General Fund at Family Tree DNA and will be designated for null research.

The Quantified Self has a follow-up to last week’s post about the reproducibility of SNP testing by 23andMe and deCODEme using Illumina SNP chips (see the Quantified Self’s post and my post). In that post, it was revealed that two comparisons of the 560,000 overlapping SNP results from the two different companies had revealed differences of just 23 locations for one individual and 35 for another.

Soon after last week’s post, one of these individuals – Ann Turner – contacted The Quantified Self with new information that 4 of the SNPs on her list of 35 disagreeing results are also on the other person’s list of 23 disagreeing results (Antonio Oliveira). From Ann’s email to The Quantified Self:

Four of those (rs11149566, rs4458717, rs4660646, and rs754499) were also found in Antonio’s list. That’s more than you would expect by chance.

Interesting results, and as Kelly at TGS points out, “This is why sharing results is so valuable and a key to great quantified self understanding.” For anyone who might be interested in doing further comparison, here is Oliveira’s list (also available here):

rs4660646, rs4458717,rs754499, rs11149566, rs1934496, rs10933181, rs9881405, rs1064205, rs312330, rs11100437, rs2955195, rs7033246, rs1536928, rs10793963, rs10894749, rs3921012, rs510978, rs12296276, rs4965862, rs2290505, rs12960185, rs4814138, rs6615048

And here is Turner’s list (also available here):

rs4660646, rs4458717,rs754499, rs11149566, rs10435795, rs1045363, rs10743414, rs10945383, rs11179382, rs11707159, rs11915402, rs1209171, rs1221986, rs12907462, rs1303912, rs13422439, rs161381, rs17328647, rs1961196, rs1966357, rs2016461, rs2064034, rs2290516, rs2853981, rs3952469, rs4336661, rs4423481, rs4572718, rs6531490, rs6942478, rs7102702, rs7812884, rs845217, rs9332128, rs9476380

For everyone not familiar with SNPs, or Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, see this brief introduction at Wikipedia, including the helpful diagram, or read the SNP Page at SNPedia (which links to a helpful YouTube video).

Many people do not realize that the genetics of the future will rely heavily on the work done by previous, current, and future generations of genealogists. Researchers hoping to uncover links between a disease and a particular gene or mutation often recruit entire families or use compiled genealogical databases for information. Just a few of the recent examples of researchers benefiting from the work of genealogists include:

1. Genizon BioSciences will examine genetic diseases using DNA from descendants of the Quebec Founder Population;
2. A mutation believed to increase the risk of colon cancer was traced to a single family in the early 1600’s;
3. A recent study pinpointing the mutation responsible for blue eyes used data from the Copenhagen Family Bank, and;
4. Numerous studies published by deCODE, a company that uses an exclusive database of Icelandic genealogy (80% of all Icelandic people who have ever lived can be traced on family trees).

In honor of the contributions that genealogists have and will make to scientist’s understanding of the genetic basis of disease, and in honor of the many unique and well-written genealogy blogs, I created The Genealogists, a Feedburner network (subscribe via RSS here). The network, which helps unite genealogy bloggers and introduce new blogs to readers, currently has 18 members:

Please feel free to stop by each of these wonderful blogs, or to ensure that you don’t miss any of the latest genealogy news simply subscribe to The Genealogist feed.

I received an email from Denis Savard of the E3b Project, asking me to post the following for my readers. For the non-genetic genealogists, E3b is a Y-DNA Haplogroup (info here). The E3b Project was also ISOGG’s “DNA Project Website-of-the-Week” 14 Nov 2007.

Here’s the announcement:

Dear Readers,

The worldwide E3b Project proudly announces a new milestone: reaching the 700 member mark.

Since its launch this past June, the E3b project’s website (http://www.haplozone.net/e3b/project) has been steadily growing and is gradually being transformed into a dynamic place of learning, collaboration and research for all things related to E3b.

Here are some of the new developments from the last couple of months:

+ The new V-Series SNP tests have proven very popular among our E-M78 subclade participants and we have been very successful in further dissecting the E3b1a subclade into several distinct and finer branches. So far, about 70% of M78+ participants have also tested V13

+ (E3b1a2), which is the most prevalent European E3b subclade, and among these a single downstream M224+ (E3b1a2b) was also found. Of the remaining members that have requested the V Series test, 17.7% came back as V22+ (E3b1a3), and 11.4% came back as V12+ (E3b1a1). These and other statistics are periodically updated at the following page: http://www.haplozone.net/e3b/project/page/5

+ This last week the fall edition of the Journal of Genetic Genealogy has published the much anticipated research paper by E3b project’s collaborator Steven Bird, “Y-Haplogroup E3b-V13 as a Possible Indicator of Settlement in Roman Britain by Soldiers of Balkan Origin”. You can find and read this interesting document at this link: http://www.jogg.info/32/bird.pdf

+ Our database has recently been updated to include Elise Friedman’s extended haplotype cluster analysis, an in-house system which enables us to classify E3b haplotypes into well defined clusters based on allele similarities, which normally tend to correlate with biogeographical backgrounds. This focused analysis on individual haplotypes nicely complements the software based output from commonly used software applications that we use to create cladograms and neighbor joining diagrams, etc. Please go to the following page: http://www.haplozone.net/e3b/project/cluster

+ Another important trend in the last few months has been the inclusion of more collaborators who have volunteered to promote the project, to provide guidance to new members and take part in a collaborative effort to spread the new scientific discoveries and findings related to the origin, diffusion and phylogeny of this ancestral haplogroup.

+ Next comes our forum, the Double~Helix community (http://community.haplozone.net/), which has also proven itself as an ideal place for new E3b participants to inquire about their results or exchange their observations. Besides reading the opinions of regular participants, the team at hand will try to point out possible relationships of distinct haplotypes, predict a downstream mutation and identify a specific sub-cluster if enough markers are provided or maybe recommend specific additional testing.

If that wasn’t enough, Dr. Dirk Schweitzer is now preparing a basic guide to E3b, including subclade descriptions, geographic distributions, etc., since most online E3b reference pages currently available elsewhere are already outdated. A public link to this information will be announced here when available.

In sum, there are many exciting new things happening as we speak.

All that has been previously mentioned plus the inclusion of new haplotype data from relevant genetics population studies that enable members to match their haplotypes against a growing dataset is providing all members with new insight about their distant origins and helping us all to understand the bigger DNA picture.

Finally, we wish to thank all the Geographic and Surname Project administrators that responded to our recent request to invite their E3b participants to our haplogroup project. The response has been phenomenal and we’re sure your Project members will thank you for it. Here’s our FTDNA link: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/e3b

Best Wishes To All From The Team At The E3b Project.