Sunday, May 29, 2011

New v3 Results from 23andMe

I recently got my v3 (version 3) results from 23andMe. It is the latest technology -- there are now 1 million SNPs tested versus about 500,000 on the older version. There are a couple of new health results (namely Alzheimer's & the APOE gene) available on the new chip, and my comparisons with my relatives did change slightly, but overall things stayed about the same.

Here's how my v3 results compare with my v2 results.

I show up as an identical twin to myself, tee-hee. This speaks to the accuracy of the test provided by 23andMe -- when the test is repeated, you get the exact same results.


Here is an example of how a health result changed. Here is what my result for "Coronary Heart Disease" looks like on my v2 profile (the old results):
My v3 results show slightly different results:
They have changed because more SNPs are available.
The v2 results are on the left and the v3 results are on the right. It might be hard to see, but the little black circles on the v2 results say "NG" for "not genotyped." This means that not all of the SNPs used in the coronary heart disease report are available on the v2 platform (which makes sense because the v2 chip has fewer SNPs than the v3 chip). But all of the SNPs are available on the v3 chip, and so this refined information is why my results are a little different.

Let's move to the ancestry section now.

For most of my close relatives, my comparison has changed slightly.

Here is my DNA comparison with my sister (who was genotyped on v2) -- here is how she matches with both my "v2 self" and my "v3 self." The biggest change was that what appeared to be two segments on chromosome 10 has changed to one segment on my v3 profile. A couple of other segments have also changed, and overall, my percentage of DNA shared with my sister dropped by about one half of one percent. All segments that have changed are circled in red.
Here are my DNA comparisons with my two half-sisters (both genotyped on v2). In both cases, there have been some small changes. For both of my half-sisters, what appeared to be two segments (with a small break in between) on chromosome 13 has changed into one segment. The percentage of DNA that I share with my half-sisters decreased very slightly.
Here are my DNA results with my half-sister's two daughters (my half-nieces). They were genotyped on v3. In this case, the results barely changed at all. Two segments are ever-so-slightly different (by only a few SNPs), but overall the percentages of DNA that I share with them remain virtually unchanged.
Here are my DNA results with my paternal aunt and my paternal cousin. They are both on v2. I could find no discernible difference in the DNA shared with my paternal aunt, although the percentage of DNA shared did slightly change. The percentage of DNA shared with my cousin also changed very slightly, and one segment is a little bit different.
Here are my DNA results with my maternal uncle and my maternal aunt. My maternal uncle was genotyped on v3 while my aunt is on v2. My results with my maternal uncle did not change at all, while my results with my maternal aunt changed slightly on one segment.
Here are my DNA results for my maternal great-uncle and my maternal great-aunt. They are both on v2. I could find no discernible differences in the segments, although the percentage of DNA I share with my great-uncle did change slightly.
Overall, I saw very few changes.
The most dramatic change was with my sister -- I suspect perhaps this is because I share both fully-identical and half-identical segments with her (I am related to all of my other relatives on only one side of my family, so I share only half-identical segments with them). Not sure, though -- it could just be a coincidence.

My more distant relatives from Relative Finder stayed the same for the most part, but there were some slight changes. I gained two relatives that weren't there on the v2 chip (as far as I can tell, I did not lose any). Of my existing 203 relatives that I am sharing with, the percentages stayed the same with only a few exceptions. A few segments changed only very slightly, like this:
10 of my relatives either gained or lost .01%, and one lost .02%. So no dramatic differences here -- for 192 of my relatives the percentages stayed exactly the same.
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I think that about summarizes my v2 profile versus my v3 profile. Overall, there are not a whole lot of differences except for the new Alzheimer's report and the APOE info. New health results are coming in every month though, so perhaps in the future there will be more new features on the v3 chip that are not seen on the v2 chip.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Seattle Times Historical Archive

As a student at the University of Washington, I get free access to the Seattle Times Historical Archive. I am taking this opportunity to do some more research on my poor, neglected Gemmills. It's kind of ironic that I spent the least amount of time researching the family that lived closest to me (From my apartment, I can see the cemetery where they were buried, and if I was feeling adventurous I could bike to the home where they lived). For whatever reason, though, I just don't get around to studying this line very often.

But today I have already come across some interesting things, even a picture of my great-grandmother Jessica McCarthy (a very grainy picture, but a picture nonetheless!)


I also found their wedding announcement:


I also found a pretty interesting article about their son (my grandfather) George Gemmill.


This article is pretty funny to me, because although I never met my grandfather, I have always heard about how he was a very austere person who loved rules. For example, he would punish his kids for cutting butter off the wrong end of the cube! I like this article because it shows that he actually DID "live on the wild side" at least once in his life.

So that's what I have been up to lately. And if anyone needs a lookup in the Seattle Times, let me know! :)