No OCEANIA category - myOrigins

[mamoahina]

So they managed to get rid of the Oceania category for us Polynesians. I saw how a relative of mine who is a pure Hawaiian shows up as 100% East Asian (East Asian Coastal Islands) now. I don't understand why they did that, but worse, because many of us are admixed, seems like they sliced up our Oceania portion and put it into other random categories.

My mother was 19.81% European, 24.39% Oceania and 55.79% European. She now shows 81% East Asia, 17% European and 1% African.

So it seems they took all of her Oceania and threw it under East Asia category but somehow decreased her European and also put it under East Asia?

I used to show:

80.51% East Asia (Southeast Asian)
9.85% Europe
9.64% Oceania

Now I show:
89% East Asian
11% European

So did they split Oceania between East Asian and European? How can my mother have her European decrease while mine increased when I get my European from my mother? My Hawaiian (Oceania) also comes from my mother.

This is so disappointed and seems very European-centric.

[twiglette]

I agree, FTDNA seems eurocentric, probably to cater to their customer base. I suppose more Asians need to test their DNA? Not only is Oceania not its own cluster, but it isn't even covered in the "East Asia Coastal Islands" heat map. Madagascar seemed to have made the cut though.

For my uncle's results, he is 41% Asian Northeast. The heat map covers almost all of Russia, to the northern India border. I'm glad this update was great for many customers, but I personally prefer seeing comparisons to specific reference populations rather than giant clusters with dubious labels. (The only island in the East Asia coastal islands heat map is Madagascar...).

For my own results next time, I think I'll test with 23andMe first, then transfer to FTDNA. Overall, I've found Gedmatch utilities the most useful for me.

[phje]

So they managed to get rid of the Oceania category for us Polynesians.

Population Finder had Melanesian and Papuan as reference populations for Oceania. They both appear to have been eliminated from the reference populations for myOrigins and with them Oceania as a Continental Group.

I don't see how this is an improvement.

[mamoahina]

I forgot to say that previously I showed Papuan, Melanesian while my mother only showed Melanesian.

I did notice Madagascar included in the East Asian Coastal Islands. I know that some of the so called "Austronesians" made it to Madagascar but they're not entirely made up of Austronesians.

Looking at the previous percentages where the margin of error was listed, it just doesn't not compute to me how my mother's European would decrease and I would have mine increased, assuming that is what they did with the former Oceanian category.

I heard of a lot of people losing their middle eastern for whatever reason, but totally doing away with a category like Oceanian which is used in scientific research, just does not make sense to me at all.

[mamoahina]

The map can only go one way, and then the other. So when I click on the icon that shows the Most Distant Maternal Ancestors of my matches, since we're from Polynesia, those from Hawaii are on the far right side of the map, while others from western Polynesia including N. Zealand are on the left side of the map. I can't just zoom/focus in on the Pacific Ocean.

[Táltos]

mamoahina
I agree, it makes no sense to get rid of Oceania. I wasn't too impressed myself when I looked at the reference pops. Way less than I thought there would be.

[tokpisin62]

Oceania

I'm assuming all the population groups that were originally under Oceania are now lumped under East Asian. My previous Population Finders results showed I was 96.58% South East Asian and 3.42% Oceanian (Melanesian/Papuan). The Geno 2 is 55% Northeast Asian, 38% Southeast Asian and 5% Oceanian (Melanesian/Papuan). Although, the Oceanian percentage is quite small, I was not surprised given the fact that my family and I have certain similar characteristics to Melanesians.

According to myOrigins Population Cluster colored bar, I am now 100% East Asian. Unless it's just me, I find it quite odd it shows both East Asia and Madagascar on the interactive map. When I go to blended population, it shows that I am 100% East Asian Coastal Islands. Yet again, showing both East Asia and and Madagascar. Can anyone explain this?I know there a connection with the Malagasy and Oceanian population.

[twiglette]

I'm assuming all the population groups that were originally under Oceania are now lumped under East Asian. My previous Population Finders results showed I was 96.58% South East Asian and 3.42% Oceanian (Melanesian/Papuan). The Geno 2 is 55% Northeast Asian, 38% Southeast Asian and 5% Oceanian (Melanesian/Papuan). Although, the Oceanian percentage is quite small, I was not surprised given the fact that my family and I have certain similar characteristics to Melanesians.

According to myOrigins Population Cluster colored bar, I am now 100% East Asian. Unless it's just me, I find it quite odd it shows both East Asia and Madagascar on the interactive map. When I go to blended population, it shows that I am 100% East Asian Coastal Islands. Yet again, showing both East Asia and and Madagascar. Can anyone explain this?I know there a connection with the Malagasy and Oceanian population.

Southeast Asian genes did reach Madagascar, from what others have told me. The shapes and sizes of the heat maps are the same for any individual in a specific cluster, however. They are not indicative of your unique origins, they just show where your ancestral group spread its genetic influence in general. The only part that is customized is the intensity of color of the heat maps. The darker it is, the higher the percentage you have for that group.

The heat maps in their current state are not accurate though, but that's a whole other bag of worms...

[1_mke]

It would require more computation but it seems to me that the way to get the best results is to do things in multiple passes.

Pass one has three reference populations. Asian, African and European. Lets imagine a person who is about admixed 33.3% each. The next pass would take the DNA flagged as Asian and refine the determination by using however many reasonably distinct populations were available. This pass would then do the same for the persons African and European portions.

One of the problems I've read about is that things get squirrely if you include too many populations which is likely why companies like Ancestry, 23andMe and FTDNA try to limit the number of populations they use. By doing the admixture testing in multiple passes they can have more populations in each grouping without shorting any of the others.

It makes sense to me, but I don't really know what I'm talking about.