A question from my brother who is interested in testing

[Carolyn1955]

Hi all, my brother is now interested in being tested at FTDNA. Since I got my results back as U8a1 which I am told does not show the genes needed to say an ancestor was Native American, he would like to test to confirm this.

If my results do not show the necessary genes, would his show the genes if we are brother and sister? I didn't have the answer for him, so I told him I would ask his question in the FTDNA forum.

Thanks

[Bill Hurst]

Hi all, my brother is now interested in being tested at FTDNA. Since I got my results back as U8a1 which I am told does not show the genes needed to say an ancestor was Native American, he would like to test to confirm this.

If my results do not show the necessary genes, would his show the genes if we are brother and sister? I didn't have the answer for him, so I told him I would ask his question in the FTDNA forum.

Thanks

Hi Carolyn,

At best, and most likely, if your brother took the mtDNA FGS test he would match you exactly. At worst, he wouldn't match you at all. Then you would have to figure out which of you was adopted, switched at birth, or whatever.

Better that he test his Y-DNA with FTDNA. I think there are some Y-DNA haplogroups associated with Native Americans. Your mtDNA U8a1 certainly is not.

Bill Hurst

[jbh]

(posted under my husband signin) sorry

Hi Carolyn,

At best, and most likely, if your brother took the mtDNA FGS test he would match you exactly. At worst, he wouldn't match you at all. Then you would have to figure out which of you was adopted, switched at birth, or whatever.

Better that he test his Y-DNA with FTDNA. I think there are some Y-DNA haplogroups associated with Native Americans. Your mtDNA U8a1 certainly is not.

Bill Hurst

[Carolyn1955]

Thanks Bill, I will contact my brother today and let him know. Should he order the y-DNA67 test?

Carolyn

Hi Carolyn,

At best, and most likely, if your brother took the mtDNA FGS test he would match you exactly. At worst, he wouldn't match you at all. Then you would have to figure out which of you was adopted, switched at birth, or whatever.

Better that he test his Y-DNA with FTDNA. I think there are some Y-DNA haplogroups associated with Native Americans. Your mtDNA U8a1 certainly is not.

Bill Hurst

[Elistariel]

On the bottom of the products page is this:
"Siblingship tests require professional counseling and advice, please email our siblingship specialist today for a customized quotation."

If you are looking to see if you have Native American genes, it may be best to do an autosomal test. DNA Tribes and Ancestry by DNA are two examples I can think of.
Do you know what line or lines your NA ancestor/s is/are on?

[rucksack]

Carolyn,

Where in the family lines does this N.A. ancestry come from?

If it is NOT on either direct male or direct female lines, neither Y or mtDNA would show this. Obviously, from the mtDNA results you have, it is NOT on the direct maternal line.

In any case, if the price tag is not prohibitive, definitely have him do the 67 marker test. It is good for you and for the world at large.

If you're looking for any close N.A. ancestry, say in the last 5 generations or so, and that ancestor is not on a direct Y or mt line, perhaps 23andMe would be a better option.

In my opinion, he / you should not waste money on DNA Tribes or ancestry by DNA. They are quite often "hit and miss" because they don't have enough world populations in their dataset (yet).

Either way, I hope he tests. The more people that test, the better for all.

[Carolyn1955]

My brother is going to order the yDNA67 and then go from there. I'm sure he'll order any deeper tests if advised once he gets his first test done. I suggested to him that he join this forum and ask his questions rather than have me relay them. I ask him not to feel bad if he asks a dumb question, because I have ask enough for the both of us, and folks here have always understood lack of knowledge on my part.

As far as the NA part goes, he would like to confirm that for himself. He believes it is on both paternal and maternal sides of our family. I explained that it does not show in me, but, to not rule it out for him. That he really needs to be tested if this is what he wants to know. I also gave him the links shared on this thread but advised him to not test with others until he has tested with FTDNA first.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions, I'll leave it up to my brother to join and go from there.
Carolyn

Carolyn,

Where in the family lines does this N.A. ancestry come from?

If it is NOT on either direct male or direct female lines, neither Y or mtDNA would show this. Obviously, from the mtDNA results you have, it is NOT on the direct maternal line.

In any case, if the price tag is not prohibitive, definitely have him do the 67 marker test. It is good for you and for the world at large.

If you're looking for any close N.A. ancestry, say in the last 5 generations or so, and that ancestor is not on a direct Y or mt line, perhaps 23andMe would be a better option.

In my opinion, he / you should not waste money on DNA Tribes or ancestry by DNA. They are quite often "hit and miss" because they don't have enough world populations in their dataset (yet).

Either way, I hope he tests. The more people that test, the better for all.