We have new results in that illustrate the importance of having 25 markers tested, instead of just 12. Kits 29401 and 29557 had a 12/12 match on the first 12 markers. Since both traced their Bowles ancestor back to North Carolina, the hope was that they were related. However, 29557's 13-25 marker results just in actually show that there is a genetic distance of 4 between the two kits. Specifically, the two kits are one number off on markers 13, 23, 24, and 25. More about that later. The web page at [http://www.familytreedna.com/gdrules_25.html] gives a good explanation of the concept of genetic distance. It is unlikely at this point, although not impossible, that these two share a common ancestor within the last 500 years. There is however one issue to consider. All 4 of the markers in which these two kits fail to match are known to be markers that mutate at a greater rate, leaving us with the possibility that the common ancestor for these two might exist after all. The only way to know for certain is to have additional participants who also trace their lines to one of these. For example, suppose participant X is tested and matches kit 29401 on all but markers 13 and 23; and also matches kit 29557 on all but 24 and 25. That would place this participant exactly between the two others, matching both at 23/25 with two fast mutating markers as the difference. I realize that this is a bit complicated, but essentially what it means is that the likelihood of kits 29401 and 29557 sharing a common ancestor within the last 500 years is 40.72%. Unless additional tests are done in these two lines that fall between the two, they should not consider themselves as closely related. If you have questions about this, please don't hesitate to ask. Charlie Hartley Bowles DNA Project Administrator [mailto:hartley@iglou.com] [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/bowlesdna.html]