4 Kinds of DNA for Genetic Genealogy

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Let’s talk about the different “kinds” of DNA and how they can be used for genetic genealogy.

It used to be simple. When this “industry” first started, in the year 2000, you could test two kinds of DNA and it was straightforward. Now we’ve added more DNA, more tools and more testing companies and it’s not quite so straightforward anymore. But’s it’s a LOT better for genealogists.

Four Kinds of DNA

There are 4 different kinds of DNA that genealogists can use to provide information about our ancestors.

1. Y DNA for males only – Family Tree DNA tests the Y chromosome which is passed from father to son, along, in most cases, with the surname. Only men can take this test, because only men have a Y chromosome.

Female genealogists need to ask their fathers, brothers, uncles and male cousins to test for the surnames in question. You can read the article, Concepts – Who to Test for Your Father’s DNA.

Family Tree DNA compares the results of the Y chromosome test between males to see if they match and are related in a genealogical timeframe.

Testers also obtain their haplogroup which is a genetic clan and tells your ancestral story of deep ancestry, such as European, African, Asian or Native American heritage.

Family Tree DNA sponsors free surname, haplogroup and other special interest projects, such as American Indian or regional projects. Projects are indispensable for both genealogy and genetic genealogy research and everyone can join.

Family Tree DNA is currently the only testing company that offers Y DNA testing providing matching, projects and other tools, including the advanced Big-Y test. Y DNA test levels include 37 and 111 markers in addition to the Big Y-700 test which provides a minimum of 700 markers and extremely granular advanced haplogroup testing.

Testing more markers is how one determines who they are related to most closely in time. The Big Y-700 is definitely the best test, but the 37 and 111 marker tests can be considered entry-level. The Y DNA test is great in combination with the Family Finder autosomal test, and advanced matching allows you to see who you match on both tests.

You can read more in my article, Working with Y DNA – Your Dad’s Story.

You can click here to order a Y DNA test.

2. Mitochondrial DNA for everyone – Mitochondrial DNA tracks your matrilineal line and is passed generationally from mother to mother to mother to both genders of her children, but only females pass it on.

Males carry their mother’s mitochondrial DNA but they don’t pass it to their children.

Like Y DNA, mutations are compared to see if testers share an ancestor in a genealogical timeframe, but because the surname changes in every generation, it’s more challenging genealogically to make the connections.

Mitochondrial DNA testing also provides a haplogroup which defines deep ancestry, such as European, African, Asian or Native American.

Family Tree DNA offers free haplogroup and other special interest projects such as the AcadianAmerindian Project.

Family Tree DNA is the only testing company that tests mitochondrial DNA and provides matching, projects, and tools.

You can read my 4 part series about mitochondrial DNA beginning with the first article:

Articles 2, 3 and 4 in the mitochondrial series are useful after you’ve received your test results.

You can click here to order a mitochondrial DNA test.

Inheritance Paths

The paths of inheritance for both the paternal YDNA, blue, and the mitochondrial DNA, red, are shown below.

Autosomal DNA is inherited from all of your ancestors shown in the pedigree chart above, and further back in time as well. Y DNA and mitochondrial DNA are extremely important to inform us about the specific ancestry, both near and deep, of one line each, while autosomal DNA provides us with a different type of information about a wide range of ancestors.

In addition to Family Tree DNA who provides testing, mitoYDNA, a non-profit has begun accepting transfers for matching. Additionally, both WikiTree and Geni allow users to associate Y and mitochondrial DNA with specific ancestors.

3. Autosomal DNA for everyone – Autosomal DNA tests the DNA contributed by both parents on the 23 chromosomes, not just two direct lines as with Y DNA and mitochondrial DNA.

While Y DNA and mitochondrial DNA are never recombined with the DNA from the other parent, you do receive half of your autosomal DNA from each parent. Autosomal DNA is recombined in each generation, so each new generation inherits less DNA from previous generations.

The inheritance paths for autosomal DNA are shown below.  You can see that this includes all of the various ancestral lines, including the lines that also contribute the Y-line and mitochondrial, but those are separate and different tests providing different kinds of information.

Autosomal DNA tests are provided by:

You can order an autosomal DNA test by clicking on the vendors’ links, above.

These tests provide ethnicity estimates and a list of cousin matches from all of your ancestral lines, but it’s up to you to figure out how these cousins are related to you. Various testing companies provide different tools to help in this quest, each having their own strengths.

All four companies provide the ability to download your raw data results so that you can perform further analysis by using several online tools, the most popular being GedMatch, DNAPainter, Genetic Affairs and DNAGedcom.

Many articles on this blog are devoted to working with autosomal DNA and is entirely keyword searchable for your convenience.

4. The X Chromosome – The X chromosome is included as part of autosomal DNA testing. The X chromosome has special inheritance properties that allow people to use these results separately from the rest of the autosomal results.

The 23rd pair of chromosomes defines your biological sex. If a father contributes his Y chromosome, the child will be male. If a father contributes his X, the child will be female. Mothers always contribute an X, because they don’t have a Y chromosome.

The inheritance path of the X chromosome is different for males and females, because males only inherit an X chromosome from their mother (and a Y from their father which makes them male), but women inherit an X from both of their parents. Therefore, an X match with another tester can eliminate several potential ancestors. For males, an X match must come from his mother’s side of his family.

You can read about X matching, along with a helpful X inheritance chart, in the article, Who Tests the X Chromosome?

Getting Started

You need to test before you can receive results to jump-start your genealogy.

I recommend that every genealogist do the following:

  • Test your Y DNA or the Y DNA of your paternal lines by recruiting others
  • Test your mitochondrial DNA
  • Build a DNA Pedigree chart
  • Test with or upload your autosomal DNA to all 4 vendors. Different people test at different locations. I have important matches at each vendor who have never tested elsewhere.
  • Upload your autosomal DNA file to GedMatch for additional functionality. It’s free with Tier-1 advanced functionality requiring a subscription.

Uploads

Family Tree DNA and MyHeritage accept uploads for free, with an unlock fee required for advanced tools. If you subscribe to MyHeritage, no unlock fee is required. You can begin a free trial subscription here.

Ancestry and 23andMe do not accept uploads, so you must test there directly. Ancestry requires an additional subscription for some functionality, such as seeing your matches trees and advanced features. Here are my 4 articles with instructions for how to download and upload your DNA file:

Have FUN! Your ancestors are waiting on you.

______________________________________________________________

Disclosure

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Transfers

Genealogy Services

Genealogy Research

226 thoughts on “4 Kinds of DNA for Genetic Genealogy”

  1. Roberta,

    I’m starting to get a lot of DNA questions on some of my genealogy lists. This article in particular would answer a question posting just today. How can I direct people to receive your DNA Blog?

    Reply ↓

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  9. Your assertion about AncestryDNA not having X data is incorrect. AncestryDNA does not do anything with it, but I have downloaded my data and the X data is there. I uploaded to Gedmatch and can see all my X matches.

    Reply ↓

    • At the time this was written, there was no ability to download any file from Ancestry, so the X data information was entirely unavailable to the person who tested.

      Reply ↓

  10. Is there a DNA test that would test for a specific genetic disease? (Tuberous Sclerosis for example).

    Reply ↓

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  20. I have done the MtDNA with Genographic Project and uploaded it to FTDNA. Iwould now like to upgrade but am not sure which one to get done. if I upgrade to the Full DNA test, does that include all 4 of the DNA groups you listed above, with results for ethnicity, cousins and X factor?

    Reply ↓

    • The X and autosomal is one test called the Family Finder. You can upgrade to the full mitochondrial sequence for the maternal line. If you are a female, you can’t order any of the Y tests. So, no, the tests are separate except for the X and autosomal.

      Reply ↓

  21. Hi, I hope you can help me. My mother and bio father were first cousins. They never married and were estranged. He is dead now, but he had my half-sister with his third wife. She found me on Ancestry last year and we have been communicating, but she and her mom’s family don’t believe that we share the same father. Is there a DNA test that I can take that will show the common ancestors first cousins would indicate? My sister and I are separated by 2000 miles and are amicable, but she isn’t willing to pay for a DNA test, but I want to remove any doubts of my veracity.

    Reply ↓

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  24. Is there a difference between a court appointed DNA and your DNA to see if you are the father of a son? This test was taken approx. 18 years ago.

    Reply ↓

    • The tests 18 years ago were very different than the tests today. They would have been a small number of CODIS markers, probably 15. It would be the interpretation of the results you would be interested in.

      Reply ↓

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  27. I am one of the people whose results from Ancestry showed Scandanivian DNA (the largest group) but have no Scandinavian ancestors. Would it be helpful to take another DNA test from a different company to verify or disprove this.

    Reply ↓

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  30. Can I do a dna test to know the race of my father because I dont know him and would love to know at least what race he is?

    Reply ↓

  31. I was adopted and have no knowledge of my biological father and no confirmation of my biological mother(who is deceased), however, I found someone who I think is her son. I have done 23 and me, I am female. I have encouraged this person, who I think is my brother, to do it as well. Am I correct that his results will indicate whether we are siblings? Even if we have different fathers?
    On a separate note, how useful is 23 and me going to be in helping me discover my biological father and his roots? So far, it s a long list of far off relatives. It’s quite bewildering.

    Reply ↓

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  36. You can transfer your AncestryDNA to FTDNA and view X chromosome matches.

    FTDNA offers a free autosomal transfer of your raw data from Ancestry.DNA. Once your data is in the FTDNA system you can view your top 20 matches and tell if you share segments on the X chromosome. You can even use their chromosome browser to see where you match on each chromosome, including the X. To unlock the full feature set inducing the ability to contact your matches you can recruit others to transfer or pay a nominal fee.

    There is no obligation. Please use this link if you want to try this. Make sure to copy the entire link on both lines and paste into your browser:

    https://www.familytreedna.com/autosomalTransfer?atdna=KR%2foZtsmOlXoFeMqxPIZ8w%3d%3d

    Good luck!

    Jim

    Reply ↓

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      • If the hair sample doesn’t have the root, but was a cutting, would the same prediction apply? Should I hold it and hope it can be analyzed in a few years?
        In my case, it is my grandfather’s hair, from 1940; I would like to know his mother’s mtDNA haplogroup. The hair was undoubtedly handled by a family member, though, such as his wife or my mother. I do know their mtDNA haplogroup.

        Reply ↓

      • Thank you! I believe it’s in the original wax paper at the moment, so I’ll check and move to a paper envelope if the wax paper is a problem.

        Reply ↓

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  44. I know my maternal ancestory back a few generations,but want to know if Khazar,Ashkenazie,Sefardic roots are there.I am female.My family came from Poland,Belarus and possibly Italy and are all jews.My Polish side look Mongol. There were many tribes in history. My Y side is the one I dont know past 2 generations.No males to test.What test should I use? I am a second generation female Jewish American.

    Reply ↓

  45. My mother is 90 years old and was adopted. Her adopted mother refused to tell her anything about her bio parents. I am new to genealogy and don’t know the terminology used in the FTDNA results or what anything means. Where I can I go for help to explain and answer questions?

    Reply ↓

    • There are lots of avenues. The Family Tree DNA webpages have some help and they have a learning center. I do reports for both Y and mtDNA. There are lots of articles on this blog, plus I’ve listed books as well. Diahan Southard does a one hour “test drive” of your results too. So there are lots of ways to learn.

      Reply ↓

  46. Hi. A 2nd half cousin and I are trying to see if theirs a test to fine if we are really whole 2nd cousin. We have reason to believe that my Great Grandfather on my mother side is going to be his Grandfather on his fathers side. And hes the last of the 1st cousins,

    Reply ↓

  47. I do not know who my mother was. Found out in my 30’s that my parents weren’t really my parents. Believe my father to actually be my grandfather and my mother who has passed away to be my 1/2 sister. she had three other children and need to know if a dna will tell me and her daughter if we are 1/2 sisters and which test would be the best to use. Parents that raised me are deceased and so far have not been able to find any one alive to help. I am 71 and her daughter is 61.

    Reply ↓

      • I know I was not adopted formally. My father was actually my grandfather raising a baby from one of his two girls. during the time I was born the children had been removed from the home and placed in Baptist childrens home and they say because of hepa laws they can not give me any info. had I been adopted I could have gotten death certificates or they say they could get them and then they could have released info. But now it seems as though my only option is dna with the person I believe to be my half sister or I could do it with her brother who I believe to be my half brother. Sorry I didn’t explain well the first time. I did go look at the site you provided but it still only applies to adoptions. When I was 18 months old the parents that raised me filed for a birth certificate listing them as my parents and saying I was born at home and they were just getting around to filing for birth certificate. Later I learned I was born at st lukes hospital but that doesnt help me because I have no idea what name birth mother used for me. I was told my father(grandfather) named me after his youngest daughter who was adopted out before he was able to get his other 4 children back. So, is possible for you to tell me which test or tests could possibly help me and if sister or brother would be a better person to compare to

        Reply ↓

        • DNAAdoption does not just deal with adoption, but with helping people of unknown parentage discover their roots. Whether the adoption was legal or not is of no consequence. The situation you described where the grandparent may also be the parent is too close genetically for a cut and dried answer. You either need to work with them or a have a private consult.

          Reply ↓

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  50. A few weeks ago, my mother told me that my “dad” was not really my father. I am currently 20 years old and have a deep desire to find my biological father. She gave me his name, which I searched on the internet. Though, he is nowhere to be found. She did not really know him too well. Therefore, she knows nothing about his family. I am awfully frustrated and don’t have a clue where to start. I was wondering if the Family Tree DNA could help me in this case.

    Reply ↓

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