Notes on Genetic Networks

Blaine did an amazing job explaining genetic networks. It was exactly what I needed to learn in my journey to utilize more DNA evidence in my research. I’m excited to share my notes below.

What are they?

I got to the class a few minutes late, so I’m going to share Blaine’s excellent description of genetic networks from the syllbaus: “A genetic network is an arranged cluster of individuals that have taken a genealogy DNA test, arranged in a group that allows the identification of new information from the grouping. Genetic networks are created using: (1) shared matching information; (2) shared segment information; or (3) both.”

How do we form them?

Ancestry DNA Custom Groups

AncestryDNA now allows you to create your own genetic clusters. You simply select a match and select “add to group.” Then you choose a color for the custom group. There are 24 colors to choose from! Blaine says that he creates a hypothesis, then starts adding people to a custom research group. He titled one of his example groups the “Sofia Hernandez Research group.” His hypothesis is that all the people he has added to this group have shared ancestry. He’s trying to figure out he’s related to Sofia Hernandez. He found the list of people to add to this group by going to his match, Sofia Hernandez, then clicking “shared matches.” Then he sees all of the group.

The benefit of this is being able to create up to 24 research groups that are saved in you Ancestry account. This helps you stay organized and remember what you’ve been working on. It’s sort of like a research log for DNA matches.

What’s the purpose of creating this research group when you could just click on Sofia’s shared matches? Chances are you are not going to solve this right away and you are going to have to come back to this over time. You can always see who you did and did not enter. It’s clear to see when a new shared match comes in!

Shared Matches at FamilyTree DNA

Click the box next to a match, then click “in common with.” This shows you the matches shared with the individual you checked. Now you have a genetic cluster. There is no easy way to create a grouping here.

Shared Matches at MyHeritage DNA

Click review DNA match and you ‘ll see the list of matches you have in common. This showed Blaine a list of shared matches, including his mother. Now he knows this match is from is mother’s side. MyHeritage shows how much DNA you share with your matches. But how do you see how much DNA your shared matches share with each other? You can only get this extra piece of information about shared matches and how much DNA they share with each other is from MyHeritage and 23andMe.

MyHeritage is bringing together shared match clustering with chromosome matching. It shows how you, a match, and a shared match, all share a certain piece of DNA. The ultimate tool Blaine wants is a tool that does all of this and layers everything. (Blaine is amazing at coming up with tools and then getting them created!)

Genetic Affairs

This is a genetic networking tool that works with 23andMe, AncestryDNA, or FTDNA (and now MyHeritage!). You can bring in kits that you have tested with other companies and click “autocluster.” This goes to get the information and create clusters, and send the results to you by email.

Each analysis is 25 credits or $0.25. You can change the thresholds for how many cM to include in the cluster. You should test different levels because it depends on how many people who have tested from your close relatives. You may not want to see all your first cousins in your cluster, so lower your threshold so you don’t see all those close relatives. After you do the analysis, you get an email from Genetic Affairs, and one of the attachments is “auto-clustering.” Save to your desktop, then open it. The .html file opens in a browser and you get a cluster graph and a cluster table (with links to the matches and imported notes).

The chart shows 10 clusters. Each one of the colored boxes is a new cluster for your to research.

The cluster table is even more useful. It shows if there is a tree connected to a match. It also shows the notes that you have added to a match. These were imported from the testing company. Always write notes for your matches, even if it’s just a hypothesis, so that you don’t have to make that discovery again.

One of the clusters shows lots of notes that Blaine had hypothesized are from the Johnson line in his family.

MyHeritage and Genetic Affiars AutoClustering  are now combined in the MyHeritage DNA interface! You can see the AutoClustering tool in your MyHeritage tools. It’s nice to be able to generate this right from MyHeritage.

More Third Party Clustering Tools

NodeXL – If you are new to clustering, this is a challenging process but it is great. You can create ICW clusters of individuals using NodeXL. If you’re using Ancestry data, this is shared matching, not shared segments. You can set up clusters using shared matches and “In common with” lists provided by the companies.

Going back to the example of Sofia Hernandez research group that Blaine created at AncestryDNA, the next step is opening each match’s tree and looking for common ancestors. Then he forms a hyptohesis that everyone in this group is all related through the Alborough family. Then, Blaine would write an email to Sofia, who doesn’t have a tree, and say “it looks like we are related through the Alborough family,” and she is more likely to respond.