There are several diseases that are more prevalent in people with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry - there’s a named panel of tests recommended for couples with this heritage before having children. Tay Sachs is one of the better known diseases more common in this community.
One of the reasons I’m hesitant to be DNA tested is I really don’t want to find out if I have any half-siblings out there that resulted from my father’s numerous affairs. I don’t have a relationship with him - really don’t care to form one with any other kids he might have fathered.
99.8% European as expected. We were always pretty sure from research that we came from the British Isles, France and Germany. But 23andme turned up direct ancestors from the 1700’s that were Ashkenazi Jewish and Western African. Very interesting.
Free! You can upload your raw DNA file (from 23andMe and others) to Promethease (to get a genetic health report) for free until January 15. Normally this costs $5.
Promethease is a literature retrieval system that builds a personal DNA report based on connecting a file of DNA genotypes to the scientific findings cited in SNPedia.
There are also some rare genetic diseases that trend in the Ashkenazi heritage but also pop up in other lines. My DH has a rare genome that so far has only been traced through Ashkenazi heritage, but he also has zero in that DNA. He’s pretty much 100% UK and Scandinavia according to the DNA. There’s still a lot to be und rstood, but isn’t this fun!
Madison85, I would like to upload my data from ancestry.com but could not find or did not understand the directions. I will look at it again in the morning when I am more awake. Does anyone know how to do it for ancestry or could you point me in the right direction for the instructions?
*To take advantage of this opportunity follow the simple steps below:
Go to https://www.promethease.com
Check all the checkboxes and click “I agree”
Click “Upload raw data” or “Import” it again.
When prompted, click the “Get free report” button.
If you want to get free updates in the future, enable the storage option which allows us to save your data and generate updated reports for you.
Pick a password for your account.
Wait about 5 minutes to receive your first report.*
Thanks, Madison85. I had done that last night but didn’t realize that it worked. The resusults made no sense to me. I guess I just don’t understand what I am looking at.
@lotsofquests Promethease uses results from medical studies that indicated certain genes as being related to health conditions. It compares your genes to its database and tells you if you have a particular gene that could be indicative of a health condition (green for good, red for negative, and gray for neutral). Since many genes could be related to breast cancer, for example, you might have one that could give you a higher risk than average for breast cancer (red) and one that gives you a lower risk (green).
If I am reading it correctly, I have a high risk for breast cancer. I am really confused by the jargon but I will make sure that I am not late for my annual check-up with the cancer specialist who has been monitoring my non cancerous lump for 6 years. No female relative that I am aware of, including 4 sisters and 5 aunts, has been diagnosed with breast cancer, so the genetic connection seems strange.
Just a reminder about genes that do this or that: those results are based on studies that are, let’s just say, imperfect. The associations between gene X and outcome Y are merely associations, and often not strong ones. Also, some of the claimed associations are just wrong.
No, not a joke. @lotsofquests specified that no female relative that she knows of had breast cancer. I was asking if she left out any male relatives who got breast cancer (presence of such is generally considered a familial high risk factor for breast cancer).
I had second thoughts when I put the female qualifier; I just knew someone on here would call me out on it. There were five girls in my family and my father had 5 sisters. I had more female relatives. I am aware that men do get breast cancer but none that I am aware of in my known family.
My sister has been researching our family history. She has found no ancestors south of England or west of Germany. So far, this comports with what we thought: our ancestors have skin tones that range from snow, to sugar, to cream, to cottage cheese. Pale, pale, pale.
Her daughter did a DNA test from one of the DNA companies, and sure enough it showed almost entirely from the melanin-challenged part of the world. At first she had some excitement that she had a teeny bit of Asian DNA-- but it was from the Caucasus. Yeah, I think they’re Caucasian there.
DW and D18 are very similar: 95% NW Europe (40% British/Irish, 35% French/German, 5% Scandinavian, etc.) with the rest split South and East. I, on the other hand, am apparently a Cylon with no DNA! My package has been stuck in the “Extracting” state for over a month.
@intparent – grunt growl ugh noctung 95% yakoo (intparent will understand that. For the rest of you, that’s neanderthal for “we have more neanderthal genes than 95% of their database, too”.
My father’s father abandoned the family during the Depression, and he was never mentioned again. That meant, I knew almost nothing about a quarter of my family. I got my Ancestry results back a couple weeks ago. One of my 946 fourth cousins and higher listed linked to her family tree, and I recognized a couple names on it. It turns out we share a great-grandmother /great-aunt on my dad’s side, and she has been very generous in filling me in on that part of the family. It was so amazing to see photos of my great-grandparents that she shared. She and a couple other newly-found relatives will be coming to an already-planned family reunion this spring so we can all meet.
As for Promethease, the amount of information you get is incredible, but it’s kind of like opening a Pandora’s box. Be prepared to find some things out about your health that might be unsettling. Some information seems to contradict other genetic information. For example, one gene shows I have a greater risk of dementia (not the APOE e4 gene) and another a reduced risk. And it’s not the easiest site to navigate and understand.