3/1/10 Changes in Ysearch Nomenclature

Deane Merrill, dwmerrill@charter.net
February 2010

The following letter was sent to Ysearch users on 2/26/10:

Dear ySearch User,

You are receiving this e-mail because you have manually entered a result for the marker(s) DYS452 and/or DYS463 in the ySearch Database at www.ySearch.org.

These markers have never been part of the standard 67 markers that are offered by Family Tree DNA but they can be ordered separately on the Family Tree DNA advanced orders page and are also available from other DNA testing companies.

Several years ago when the ySearch.org site was new, there was not yet a consensus on the method of reporting these particular marker scores.  Because of the variance in reporting by different companies it has not always been possible to use these markers for haplotype comparisons on the ySearch website.  

Consensus was reached in Fall 2008 when John Butler's article in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy [1] and the SRM 2395-Human Y-Chromosome DNA Profiling Standard [2] were published. To our knowledge, all DNA testing companies are now reporting DYS452 and DYS463 according to the current NIST standard.

We are now attempting to align the ySearch Database records for DYS452 and DYS463.
The procedure for this alignment will be as follows:

1.  On Monday, March-01-2010 (CST) we will back up all DYS452 and DYS463 records in the ySearch Database.
2. All DYS452 records in the ySearch Database that are reported as less than 17 repeats will have 19 added to the value.
3. All DYS463 records will be removed from the ySearch Database.
4. Accounts that are linked to a Family Tree DNA kit # will automatically have their DYS463 reloaded from the Family Tree DNA Database.
5. Please log in to your ySearch account on Tuesday, March-02-2010 (CST) after these changes have been completed and verify that your DYS452 and DYS463 allelic values are correct. 
6. If your ySearch account is not linked to a Family Tree DNA kit # with results for DYS463 then you will need to reenter your DYS463 result.  Note: Please use the correct NIST nomenclature so that all ySearch result records are in conformance. If you are unsure with which nomenclature your results have been reported then please do not enter any value into ySearch until you have confirmed this. You might try e-mailing or calling the testing company from which you received your results in order to find out which reporting method they used for your test.

*** Family Tree DNA has always reported these markers according to the current NIST standard. If you have received your results from Family Tree DNA's advanced orders panel you can directly enter the exact result into ySearch. ***

Please note that markers other than DYS452 and DYS463 are not affected by this March-01-2010 ySearch update.

We hope that the update to this free public service will enhance its utility and value to the Genetic Genealogical Community.

Best regards,

Thomas Krahn
Laboratory Director
Family Tree DNA

Mark Williams
CTO
Family Tree DNA

References:
[1] John M. Butler, Margaret C. Kline, and Amy E. Decker: Addressing Y-Chromosome Short Tandem Repeat (Y-STR) Allele Nomenclature, Journal of Genetic Genealogy, Volume 4, Number 2 (Fall 2008). http://www.jogg.info/42/files/butler.pdf

[2] http://www.cstl.nist.gov/strbase/srm2395.htm

Back to Conversion of Marker Values due to Differences in Nomenclature

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