Do I have the D9S919 marker?

[VikingGirlTBird!]

Hi Everybody!

A while ago I took the autosomal DNA test for the D9S919 marker and the test results came back at a value of 17-17.

What do value numbers mean and does the value of 17-17 mean that I have the marker D9S919? Just wondering. Thanks!

PS: The reason why I took the D9S919 DNA marker test is because there is some evidence that I might be part Native American (Cherokee Native American.).

Peace!

[MMaddi]

A Google search for D9S919 found a previous thread on the subject in these forums at http://forums.familytreedna.com/showthread.php?t=36134.

One poster wrote that, "D9S919 is present in only around 30% of the Native Americans. So about 70% do not have it." He also gave a link to a page on the ISOGG Wiki with a bit more information - see http://www.isogg.org/wiki/D9S919. This page states that an allele (count) of 9 indicates probable Native American ancestry.

However, since only about 30% of Native Americans have that count, the fact that you don't have 9 for that marker means it's inconclusive from that result whether you have Native American ancestry. You either don't have Native American ancestry or you are part of the 70% of people with Native American ancestry who don't have 9 for D9S919.

Have you ordered the Family Finder test? It has a feature called myOrigins which estimates ethnic/geographic ancestry (admixture) by percentage. One of the categories covers Native American. I've heard that it sometimes misses identifying Native Americans, but you can upload your raw data to GEDmatch.com, where there are various admixture calculators that are regarded as more accurate in reporting Native American ancestry.