how many have tested for Big Y?

[Bartot]

A majority of the time a new sample is not needed.

Thanks

I got a reply from ftdna, they checked my sample and stated I have 2 unused samples remaining

This means my total amount of tests I can do with my initial sample is six

[mkdexter]

I've done the 111 marker Y test and haven't got any great results yet and it's been over a year now. We're trying to determine my father's paternal history which is a complete mystery. Can anyone tell me if it would be worth it to do the Big Y test? It's pretty costly so I want to know more about what it offers that is different than the 111 marker test. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm very new at this!

Thank you!
~Rachel

My experience is that the BigY test is more for advanced research. I did it before I knew who my father was and it did not help me learn anything pertinent to my search, but I knew it wouldn't, I just do lots of different tests for my own research and study.

What I don't know is whether you know anything of your father's line or not. If he was adopted for example, the BigY would not help you at all. Family Finder and similar tests from other companies would be more appropriate.

I found my father strictly using tests like Family Finder. Y DNA did not help at all because there are not enough people in the database that match my particular surname lineage.

I hope that helps. If you want to elaborate more about your search for your father's lineage maybe that would help to answer in more detail.

[rachelveit]

Big Y?

I've done the 111 marker Y test and haven't got any great results yet and it's been over a year now. We're trying to determine my father's paternal history which is a complete mystery. Can anyone tell me if it would be worth it to do the Big Y test? It's pretty costly so I want to know more about what it offers that is different than the 111 marker test. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm very new at this!

Thank you!
~Rachel

[Armando]

A majority of the time a new sample is not needed.

[dna]

If one has a sample already in ftdna can it be used ?..........or does a new sample need to be given to test for Big Y

It depends.

I had twice encountered a situation that a new collection kit was sent out to the testers who submitted their DNA in 2011 (and FTDNA was asking for 3 vials back then). They only had Y-DNA67 and Family Finder tests done from the original samples.

For those three members of my family who submitted their DNA in the last 3 years, Big Y was done after Y-DNA67, Family Finder and full mtDNA all from the original samples.


Your mileage may vary, as quality of the collected DNA samples can vary.


Mr W

[Bartot]

If one has a sample already in ftdna can it be used ?..........or does a new sample need to be given to test for Big Y

[richjh]

When I took the yDNA111 test it didn't give me enough information. I took the AncestryDNA test and you could see in my genes the Greek and Roman invasions. Taking the BigY I hope will help me pinpoint these events. At least that is what I am hoping. Hopefully someone can let me know what to expect from my results.
Rich

[wkauffman]

only 1 of my 21 matches at 67 markers has taken the Big Y
and just 15% of the members of my haplogroup project have taken the Big Y

it seems we need to get significantly more people to take the Big Y to learn more about the distribution in Europe 2,000 years ago

So far less than 10,000 people in the world have done the Big Y test, most of them are Americans. Once we get 100,000 people tested for the Big Y we will have a much deeper understanding of the various haplogroups and where they originated. I assume we could get to the 100,000 Big Y test results when the price falls below $199. May take another decade.

There are over 100K genomes completed but the results are buried in various insurance, pharma, and government health projects.

Technically the Big-Y test is a band-aid to defaulting to whole genome tests. Big-Y's attraction remains its price point but with it one is also compromising coverage, identification of additional novels, and some additional errors when the results are converted to new reference builds of the genome. This year we have sub-$900 whole genome results which provide better results than Big-Y. We should hope that FTDNA can develop a product/collaboration that will address the technical gaps present with BIg-Y and also be at a competitive price point which draws more testers to it.

[lgmayka]

So, about 6 weeks until results were posted, and another 6 weeks for the BAM file. There were delays in getting the BAM files at the time, though.

I have found that ordinarily, a BAM file becomes available within 2 weeks of the request. Your case just happened to span a problem in BAM file generation/storage earlier this year which took over a month to resolve.

[jova99]

Big Y

only 1 of my 21 matches at 67 markers has taken the Big Y
and just 15% of the members of my haplogroup project have taken the Big Y

it seems we need to get significantly more people to take the Big Y to learn more about the distribution in Europe 2,000 years ago

So far less than 10,000 people in the world have done the Big Y test, most of them are Americans. Once we get 100,000 people tested for the Big Y we will have a much deeper understanding of the various haplogroups and where they originated. I assume we could get to the 100,000 Big Y test results when the price falls below $199. May take another decade.

[aughex]

@MMaddi I think that science is all about exact numbers, otherwise its not science but guessing. Yes we are now dealing with incomplete numbers and small sample of tests but the DNA science is exact, especially the big Y test hence my initial question of how many need to be tested in a region to get a more accurate assessment..

After reading more articles on ancient DNA I agree with you that its more useful in determining migratory routes, a good article is here: https://www.researchgate.net/publica...3000_Years_Ago

Analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) can help to uncover the origins of human populations and show past migra-tory patterns that modern DNA cannot, since aDNA involves direct analysis of ancient human remains from specific time periods.

But how many countries are linking archeology with DNA analysis? I suppose not many and only when very old human remains are found an international team performs DNA investigation..

I suppose as more ancient DNA tests are performed the more we'll know but again back to the OP will we know this in our lifetime or 100 years into the future, or more likely never? I'm asking only for the past 2-3000 years up to present. And since modern yDNA(big Y) testing reveals nothing concrete(at this stage) about our past and where we came from, then why take the big Y test? Yes many take the test to find their 30th cousin or see if they're descendent from a king/family or I don't know why, but the main curiosity for me would be to find out where I came from in recent history of thousands/hundreds of years.

[KATM]

richjh:
I ordered a Big Y test for an existing kit during the holiday sale, at the end of Dec. 2015.
It was batched about 3 days later, with results expected 24 Feb 2016 to 9 Mar 2016.
The results were posted on Monday, 8 Feb 2016, and VCF & BED files were available that day.
The BAM file became available on 19 April 2016.

So, about 6 weeks until results were posted, and another 6 weeks for the BAM file. There were delays in getting the BAM files at the time, though.

[richjh]

I just bit the bullet and put in my order 2 days ago. To those who already have their kits can you tell me roughly how long did you have to wait?
Rich

[MMaddi]

interesting points above by all but I'd like to get back to the topic and debate how many european people would have to test for bigY and confirm their SNPs in order to have a better understanding of populations movement in recent 2-3 thousands years?

I read that ancient DNA is done with more regularity now but eventually to understand the migratory progress of one's ancestors there needs to be lots of people tested? how many exactly?

Exactly? Science doesn't work that way. It's based in many cases on probability and population samples that don't lend themselves to exact numbers.

And if someone came up with a theory based on their test sample, what they came up with would be more like a model than a literal description of what migrations took place in the past. I still think that results from ancient DNA would be more important in such a theory than the test results of living men. Just think of the example I gave above of the disproven theory of 10 years ago about R1b in Europe that was based on the prevalence of R1b among Basque men today - http://forums.familytreedna.com/show...54&postcount=3.

You can't necessarily accurately judge past migrations by the yDNA geographic distribution of living men today. That's why ancient DNA is necessary, to give us the evidence that makes up the trail of past migrations.

[aughex]

interesting points above by all but I'd like to get back to the topic and debate how many european people would have to test for bigY and confirm their SNPs in order to have a better understanding of populations movement in recent 2-3 thousands years?

I read that ancient DNA is done with more regularity now but eventually to understand the migratory progress of one's ancestors there needs to be lots of people tested? how many exactly?