Re: Question pls. 25 vs 37 marker matches
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In reply to:
Re: Question pls. 25 vs 37 marker matches
JoLee 7/13/06
Hi JoLee,
I can only tell you from my own experiences, but from my own observations of our own Surname project, Anything Less than a 37 marker test these days is NOT going to guarantee you a solid match to someone of your Own Surname as is evidenced by what happened to me.
I have 2 other matches at least that's what they are determined by the testing facility (don't want to get into any name mentioning stuff), but they are considered to be a match none-the-less.
One man only did a 25 marker test, my Father did a 37 marker test from one company and then I wanted him to do a 43 marker test from another company as well because at the time our orig. testing facility did not offer anything over 37 markers and I wanted to "hone in" on the subclade of our Haplogroup a bit better, which the 43 marker test did.(example, the orig. testing facility has our Haplogroup as "I", the 43 marker testing facility has us as "I1a" and due to a specific marker within our Haplogroup that Dr. Ken Nordtvedt has been tirelessly working on, he has narrowed us down into the subclade of "I1a-N" (N meaning Norse).
Okay, now back to the Results...My Dad's 37 marker test results showed a match to man who only did a 25 marker test.
So of course I was thrilled at the time and excited that we had found a new cousin in a place I didn't know about etc. etc.
Then about a few weeks ago we had another match (Same Surname) and this man did a 37 marker test which according to the mutations (step-wise) the match is OFF by 6 mutations all at the very end of the 37 marker chain.
However the original testing facility calls this a Match.??
Another person who I hold in the highest esteem and who is a foremost expert on DNA and with whom I have emailed frequently, told me that this mis-match probably meant nothing, and that the markers that are off by 1 step are so "flaky" and "mutate so rapidly" that they felt it was "nothing important" and that the mutations most likely occured in "their family".We do have one marker that is a solid mismatch however and is not one of the rapidly mutating ones and it is again at the end of the 37 marker chain, but I'll take a 36/37 match to someone of my Same Surname anyday.
So anyway, this DNA mismatch is ~supposedly~ under review because according to testing facility number one, this is a Very Rare occurance and they've either not seen this situation before where someone of the Same Surname whose DNA falls off at the end of the 37 markers. I've heard nothing more about it so we'll just have to wait and see if anything transpires from this.
The bottom line in my own opinion is this...Take the 37 marker test...a 25 marker test is going to be useless against someone of the Same Surname if they have taken the 37 and you only do a 25.Don't just assume that because you have a 25/25 marker match to someone of your same surname that you will have a 37/37 marker match too, I am a Classic Example that that is Not always the case.
It also appears that your case is one like mine as well.You had the same thing happen, a near match at the 25 marker level but when you extend that test on out, POOF, it all goes downhill from there.There is hope though since our matches are to those of our Same Surname.
Good Luck to you and at this point all I can say is that if you know others who are going to be doing DNA tests for Genealogical purposes...I would only recommend a 37 marker or higher test.To me the 12's and 25's are useless!
Once again, that's just my opinion based on the outcome of my own situation.
The More Numbers in the Test the Better chances of having a Solid Match or No match!
Good Luck to you