Cooley Big Y update

From: Michael Cooley <michael_at_newsummer.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 17:36:52 -0800

I've been having fun this Christmas going over the results for the
Benjamin clan Big Y test! I guess I'm a genetic genealogy nerd, Although
some individual SNP testing needs to be done for verification, it looks
like the SNP U152 can identify testers in CF02 who are not descended from
Benjamin.

David, the new tester is U152-. However, the descendant of Hezekiah Cooley
is U152+. I've been corresponding with him today and have learned that he
concluded long ago with research that takes his line to Canada that he is
not from Benjamin. Although we need several CF02s to test U152, I'm pretty
confident that the marker will prove to be a telltale sign. With that in
mind I've already created CF03, provisionally nicknamed the "UnBenjamin
Cluster." :)

So, David's results were tested against the more than 36,000 known SNPs.
The previously *predicted* terminal SNP for the group was M269, guessed to
be about 8,000 years old! The Big Y traversed 4,000 years worth of SNPs to
get to P312, guessed to be about 4,000 years old. All the known downstream
SNPs, including U152, were tested.

There are 91 "novel variants" in David's results. These are unknown SNPs
that have 50ish matches with up to 200 testers. There are some defining
downstream SNPs lurking there that will be studied by population
geneticists. As the SNPs' significance become known, they will move into
the known column. As more people test, there will be SNPs moved from
unknown to variant to known. That's what the Big Y is all about.

There are practically no known SNPs downstream of YP355. It's doubtful
we'd receive immediate benefit from the Big Y. But there will certainly be
a pool of variants, from which new subclades will be discovered.

Having access to David's results is a big plus for me. I'll be better
prepared once we do manage a Big Y for our group.

-Michael
Received on Sun Dec 28 2014 - 19:36:53 CST