Help connecting Viking DNA KOV-A2 Sigurður Arason Arnason-22

+2 votes
873 views
I have matched this DNA sample through MyTrueAncestry. I have created a Tree for him. I am sure the match is not him as a descendant, but more his family. This also goes along with the many matches I have with ancient Viking DNA samples. My family DNA is 80% Celt, which is the Irish/Scottish by way of Iceland/Norway.

I would like to enter my mother's cousin's DNA (strongest) as a match for this person, but I do not know how to do so. I have permission.
WikiTree profile: Sigurður Arason
in Genealogy Help by Glen Poland G2G2 (2.1k points)
retagged by Glen Poland
You might want to change one of your tags to "Iceland" since that is where the profile states he was born and died.

Also, be aware that "Common DNA Ancestor" should not be placed in the location field, it will generate a database error since it is not a location. You might also want to check the text over, there seem to be some odd translating errors in the text? A pre-1700 profile should also have reliable sources added.

5 Answers

+3 votes
 
Best answer

Is there a url where Sigurður Arason’s Y DNA results can be viewed?

by Peter Roberts G2G6 Pilot (694k points)
selected by Andreas West
I added some links to the profile, the Science Magazine link discuss DNA.

Hey, Peter. This won't be a very helpful response to your question, but it's all the info I have. Available for this genome are three FASTQ GZIPped files, a filtered/rescaled BAM, and a BAI (BAM index). I can't tell how large they are unless I actually download them. Link to the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) accession page for the study is: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB26760. Test subject KOV-A2 is Run Accession #ERR2593421. Here are links to the BAM and BAI. They're mapped to GRCh38.

Don't think they would be of much interest to any of us, though. KOV-A2's WGS results produced final, successful reads of only 5.2 million alleles, with an average read length of 83 base pairs, and autosomal coverage of (counting at least one read, quality-passed or not) of 0.45; the estimated amount of original sample contamination is 0.88%. Keeping in mind that 5.2 million alleles doesn't equate to any specific number of named, cataloged SNPs, it's highly unlikely that we could take that BAM file and, for example, create a simulated file suitable for GEDmatch uploading.

I've been vocal in the past about my...less than favorable opinion of MyTrueAncestry. They don't disclose anything about company management; offer zero scientific/research credentials; never describe how they're attempting to compare uploaded microarray test results to the varied ancient genomes made public and that were sequenced/tested in a multitude of different ways; never provide substantiation for the data they report back to the consumer; and have a tiered pricing structure that smacks of snake-oil sales. And then as to being a "match," what they report are unspecific bar graphs and a summary like, "Your raw DNA is 57% closer than other matching users." Which says absolutely nothing. I mean, we share 98.7% of our DNA with chimpanzees and bonobos, the most genetically-similar primates. We also share 85% of our DNA with a mouse and 41% with a banana. So they may as well be reporting that, "Your raw DNA is 57% closer than other matching users to that of a banana."

Goran Runfeldt and Mike Sager downloaded and analyzed the WGS data from the Ebenesersdóttir et al. study  (that Maggie mentioned above and added to the profile), and they arrived at, for sample KOV-A2, a yDNA haplogroup of R-L151, and an mtDNA haplogroup of H1, both way too common to be used in any genealogical fashion other than as negating evidence (e.g., someone in Y-haplogroup E definitely isn't of the same prehistoric patrilineal line). The FTDNA yDNA haplotree currently shows 14,407 downstream branches of R-L151.

Just a FWIW, L-151 is rsID rs2082033, a T>C at 14,380,667 under GRCh38; 16,492,547 under our GRCh37 results. Consumer microarray tests reporting on this SNP are 23andMe v2 through v4, and MyHeritage v2. Glen never indicated a yDNA match in his question, but his AncestryDNA data wouldn't have gone as deep in the subclades as even R-L151.

And just because I have it handy--not because it really indicates anything germane--here are the number of Y-SNPs that the different versions of the AncestryDNA tests looked at (through at least August 2019; and what's shown is yDNA that is not in the pseudoautosomal regions):

Version/Iteration Y-SNP Count Total SNPs Tested Y-SNPs as %
Ancestry v1 440 701,478 0.06%
Ancestry v2a 1,691 668,942 0.25%
Ancestry v2b 1,729 650,410 0.27%
Ancestry v2c 1,803 664,429 0.27%
Ancestry v2d 1,668 677,864 0.25%

Thank you.  I enjoyed reading that.  Sincerely,

Clearly, I am a couch potato at this.... smiley I understood less than half of what you wrote, but if that is common lingo for normal average DNA talk, then I am WAY over my head! I believe your basically saying (in layman's terms) that false positives (matching) happen more often than not?

Hello Glen, Average discussions about genetic genealogy are not overly technical.
Hi Glen,

what Ed is writing is that it's basically impossible to match the WGS dataset to an autosomal DNA result from Ancestry, 23andMe, FTDNA, LivingDNA and MyHeritage.

This is because the positions tested in the WGS sample of the Viking don't correspond to the positions tested in those micro-arrays used by the companies above.

Also, both the Y-DNA and mtDNA are way too high (meaning way too far back in time) to be of any use and are representative of large amounts of the living people with Western European origin.

As usual, this is an excellent answer from Ed, though we're used to much longer ones LOL.

Hello Andreas.  Please explain how Y-DNA (assuming it is not just Y-STRs or a Y haplogroup predicted by STRs) and mtDNA are way too far back in time to be of any use.  

Peter, I refer to this sample. It's R-L151, which was formed 5,500 YBP.

Please explain to me how that is of use for WikiTree.

Hello Andreas, Yes it would be much more useful it they had found a Y haplogroup which had formed more recently.

Utilizing the resource available at http://scaledinnovation.com/gg/treeExplorer.html?snp=R-L151, we can determine the relevance of R-L151, a Y haplogroup formed approximately 5,500 years ago, for WikiTree. This specific Y haplogroup serves as a tool for identifying possible patrilineal descendants. Males who belong R-L151 (or one it’s descendant haplogroups) may share a common patrilineal ancestor, making them potential descendants. Conversely, males who do not belong to this haplogroup or it’s descendants are not related to Sigurður (on their direct paternal line) since the formation of R-L151.

However he is not known to have had a direct line of male descendants to the present day.  We can determine who is not a descendant, or speculate about of who is potentially a descendant.

+4 votes
DNA matches on WikiTree are populated by creating the connection to the person.  So, your mother's cousin needs to join WikiTree, add their family tree, connecting to this profile, then add their DNA to their profile.   That will populate to this profile.

Here is the help page on DNA and WikiTree

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:How_to_Get_Started_with_DNA
by Robin Lee G2G6 Pilot (852k points)
+6 votes
The YDNA that they were able to measure is R1b1a1a2a1a, which existed in central Europe about 5,000 years ago.

So, I'll estimate he "matches" just over half the male population of Scotland and Ireland combined.
by Andrew Ross G2G6 Mach 3 (35.9k points)
+3 votes
I'm happy to help if I can. Unfortunately his ancestry is not known according to Íslendingabók. If you have any additional information that might help you along feel free to send me a direct message.

Kind Regards

Siggi Jónas
by Sigurður Eysteinsson G2G2 (2.8k points)
I agree with Siggi.

Sigurður Arason is living with his mother in the 1703 census. Other than those two, there is no known family.

I have edited some of the text and added the sources Íslendingabók refers to.
I have found mytrueancestry.com to not be very reliable in the common ancestor matches. I am an R1a1a1a haplogroup and it matches me to all the R1b haplogroup ancestors. Yes R1a and R1b came from the common R haplogroup do technically R1a and R1b are cousins, but the matches are very distant.
Thank you! for being very helpful.
+2 votes
Well, connecting to Sigurður is pretty much impossible.   There is nothing known about his family whatsoever, except the name of his mother.  Nothing abot her ancestors or any other relatives.  The problem then is that you don't know if your common ancestor is his (unknown) father or his 9th great-grandfather for example.
by Friðrik Skúlason G2G Crew (590 points)

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