#HOW DO I SEE MY DNA MATCHES ON ANCESTRY SOFTWARE#

#HOW DO I SEE MY DNA MATCHES ON ANCESTRY SOFTWARE#

вЂњWhatвЂ™s important to understand is that genetics can guide answersвЂќ about ancestry, says Joe Pickrell, a geneticist and the CEO of Gencove, a company that sells genetic testing hardware and software to other companies. So what does it really mean when a company tells you youвЂ™re 40 percent Greek? To answer that question, itвЂ™s useful to understand what exactly these tests are looking for, and the assumptions they have to make to guess your ancestry. As the market grows, consumers need to be aware of what exactly these tests are telling them (and even more so when it comes to information about health and wellness). These genetic tests commonly cost $60 to $100 - or more if they contain health information. Tech Review also found that in 2018, the number of tests purchased surpassed sales of all previous years combined. According to the MIT Technology Review, 26 million people or more have taken a genetic ancestry test. You could very easily purchase one of these kits without coming across it.Д¬onsumer genetic testing is growing explosively. The companies do have webpages that explain these limitations, but you have to dig a bit to find them. Your results from one company can even change over time as the company signs up more users, and gathers more data. WhatвЂ™s not always obvious from these reports is that theyвЂ™re based on estimates that can vary from company to company, and have built-in sources of error. MyHeritage, another company that provides ancestry analysis, writes вЂњour DNA test offers you the powerful experience of discovering what makes you unique and learning where you really come from.вЂќ In its ancestry reports, 23andMe says вЂњyour DNA tells the story of who you are, and how youвЂ™re connected to populations around the world.вЂќ The company is now even partnering with AirBnb to help customers plan вЂњheritageвЂќ vacations in places where their ancestors lived. They also market their product in a way that suggests their test reveals something deeply meaningful about you. They might say, for example, someoneвЂ™s ancestry is 25 percent Italian, 74 percent East Asian, and 0.1 percent Sardinian. The companies that provide ancestry testing, like and 23andMe, deliver the precise ancestral breakdown of their customersвЂ™ DNA. They have more to do with the limitations of the science and some key assumptions companies make when analyzing DNA for ancestry. So what accounts for these differences? Overall, discrepancies in ancestry testing donвЂ™t mean that genetic science is a fraud, and that the companies are just making up these numbers.

One computational biologist told the CBC that the differences in the results were вЂњmystifying.вЂќ WhatвЂ™s more, when the twins had their DNA tested by five companies, each one gave them different results. In one instance, the consumer genetics company 23andMe told one twin she was 13 percent вЂњBroadly European.вЂќ The other twinвЂ™s test, meanwhile, showed she had just 3 percent вЂњBroadly EuropeanвЂќ ancestry, and had more DNA matched to other, more specific regions in Europe. And across the industry, estimates of where an individualвЂ™s ancestors lived can differ significantly from company to company. In fact, the journalists demonstrated that twins donвЂ™t often get the same results from a single company. Not necessarily, according to a recent investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. So youвЂ™d think if a set of twins both sent in a DNA sample for genetic ancestry testing, theyвЂ™d get the exact same results, right?

Identical twins have virtually identical DNA.

How do i see my dna matches on ancestry