This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: MichaelCharlesWight Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.wright/6416.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Melanie, If money is no object, and large group size participation is a desire, I would choose FamilyTreeDNA. If money is a concern, and I am looking to just get some partial results to look at, I might choose Ancestry.com. If I was looking to find my global genetic place in the world, and money was no object, I would send my DNA off to merry old England to Oxford Ancestors and have both full Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA analyses done. The mitochondrial DNA results are a sort of maternity test that plugs you into the world's population migration from Eve. However, useful information, that is "value", is a concern for me so my personal experience in DNA testing is with Family Tree DNA of Houston, TX (www.familytreedna.org). They use the DNA lab at Arizona State University to produce the data and then FamilyTreeDNA manages the information security through the Surname Projects Administration out of Houston. In this program, results are posted by kit number and ancestor information on the Internet at the various Surname project sites, such as our surname site at www.wright-dna.org. That makes my information as well as others in the program, easily accessible via the Internet, but individually anonymous at the same time (unless I decide to tell someone what my kit number is). FamilyTreeDNA, Inc. offers three different levels of Y chromosome testing: a minimalist 12 marker (marker is chemist slang for "allele"), the more complete 37 marker and a super 67 marker test for $149, $259 and $349, respectively. They used to offer an intermediate 25 marker test for $171 which a number of Wright descendants have results posted on the Wright-DNA Surname Project site (www.wright-dna.org). I and one other Deacon Samuel Wright descendant have 37 marker results posted. The Richard Wright group results posted on the Wright-DNA Surname Project site have one, possibly two 37 marker test results posted, one 25 marker and six 12 marker tests results that are perfect matches for the haploid modal type for Richard Wright, Sr. One of those 12 marker perfect match results is supposed to be a descendant of Philburt Wright, though I understand from Herb's comments on this forum that there is still some difficulty identifying him as a son of Richard Wright through documentation. I did not consider Oxford Ancestors DNA testing services because of the cost, and the fact that they are in England, and I really don't care about my place in the global map of mankind. The other service I considered using was through Ancestry.com. However, I chose to go with Family Tree DNA because I went down to Houston and met the people involved in the program management and I know the Lab at Arizona State (I am an analytical biochemist who used to work in Phoenix). Since I didn't go with the Ancestry.com program, I do not know much about the database that they have, its ease of access or security measures to insure your privacy. I do know Ancestry.com has partnered with a Salt Lake City lab called Sorenson Genomics (www.sorensongenomics.com) and that you do not have to be a member of Ancestry.com in order to get your results. Sorenson Genomics is a for-profit lab that built its reputation and business on paternity testing, but has a sterling reputation for DNA test! ing proficiency in general and is ISO 17025 certified for all its DNA testing services. Sorenson partnered with Ancestry.com to offer genealogical DNA testing and offers two Y chromosome DNA tests, a 33 marker for $149 and a 46 marker for $199. Once Sorenson generates the DNA data, it is supplied to you and to Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com then becomes responsible for posting your anonymous results on an appropriate surname database. I don't know exactly how that works, so I am not going to comment on it further. I have compared the markers that FamilyTreeDNA tests and those that Sorenson Genomics tests and they are not all the same markers. It would appear at first blush that it would be cheaper to go with Ancestry.com because you can get data on 33 markers for the same price as FamilyTreeDNA charges for 12 markers. Or you can get data on 46 markers for $60 less than you pay to get a 37 marker test done at FamilyTreeDNA. That would suggest you get more for less at Ancestry.com. But, since both labs test different markers, it is not necessarily comparing apples to apples. Still, there is currently a price advantage at Ancestry.com. What convinced me to pay more at FamilyTreeDNA was that there were more participants already registered there to whom I could compare my results. That spelled Value to me. Since DNA genealogy is a game of direct statistical comparisons, it is always more useful to have a larger pool of related participants in order to increase the certainty of your conclusions. I didn't want to be stuck at Ancestry.com being the only Deacon Samuel Wright descendant who had his results posted there and nowhere else. Today, I do not know if Ancestry.com has caught up in the participation numbers, or whether any Deacon Samuel Wright or Richard Wright Sr. descendants have their DNA results posted with Ancestry.com, but if they have caught up and if they did have some Deacon Samuel Wright descendant results at Ancestry.com, I would be tempted to use them instead of FamilyTreeDNA because of the initial cost factor, and because I know I would not be "stuck" there. Now that FamilyTreeDNA offers a "conversion kit" for both Ancestry.com and Oxford DNA results, it would not matter where I started my DNA testing, I could eventually compare my results to those on FamilyTreeDNA if I found it necessary to come to some conclusion or other. That is to say, if I found that the participation in my surname was too low on Ancestry.com to give me statistical confidence in a conclusion, or not detailed enough from an Oxford Y-clan test to sort out a family relationship, FamilyTreeDNA will take my Oxford or! Ancestry.com DNA results, and for about $170 will test only the additional markers needed to complete comparison to the FamilyTreeDNA 37 or 67 marker results of others with my surname in the FamilyTreeDNA program. Those are my thoughts on the available DNA testing programs I think are reputable and useful in the context of our Wright ancestry problems. Hope that is of some value to you as you make your testing choices. Best Regards, Mike Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.