Can I trust a Haplogroup from 23&Me?

Question

I did a Y-DNA test with FTDNA and my paternal haplogroup was projected to be R-M269. I just did an autosomal test with 23&ME (not Y) and they gave me a paternal haplogroup of R-P311 which seems to be something more recent, like a subgroup of the R-M269. How could an autosomal test be more specific than a Y-DNA test that cost three times more? Am I missing something?

Answer 1

In short "Different technology, different results."

This may help: Haplogroup Comparisons Between Family Tree DNA and 23andMe

Answer 2

WikiTree describes 23andMe as a "autosomal" test, but their analyses include analysis of mtDNA and Y DNA. In your case, it appears that whichever Y SNPs were tested by 23andMe gave them a slightly different result than what FTDNA found in whichever test you took. It might be interested to ask the two testing companies to explain how this result could occur.

Answer 3

FTDNA tests STRs, not SNPs. R-M269 is the base haplogroup to which most men in Western Europe belong. FTDNA offers "SNP packs" that will provide more detail as to which specific subclade of your haplogroup you belong to; 23andMe will be able to tell you in most cases what subclade you belong to from SNP testing (but it's not as useful for finding matches on your direct male line as an STR test).

Comments

How do I know which SNP pack to buy? This thing is so confusing at FTDNA. Also, can this help me considering most of the cousins only match me on 12 markers? I have about a dozen matches on 25 markers and just one on 37. I made the test on 67. Is buying a SNP package going to help me if my main concern is trying to find a last name on my paternal line? Thanks.

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The SNP pack won't help if you don't have STR matches, but it MAY help rule out some potential STR matches who have non-matching terminal SNPs. You can try feeding your 23andMe raw data (in the zip format) into the Morley Y-DNA subclade predictor here: https://ytree.morleydna.com/extractFromAutosomal which will potentially give you a better idea (R-P311* without downstream SNPs is apparently quite rare). If that doesn't give you anything more detailed (because of no-calls, possibly) then you may consider the R1b-M269 backbone SNP pack (which would help nail down your particular subclade with greater detail). Apparently there can sometimes be an issue with two men who are both R-M269 having matching STR markers (because of convergence) but being in completely different subclades.

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Join the haplogroup project for your haplogroup and ask the expert administrators of the project which SNP pack to buy.  But keep in mind that if you have an inkling that you might in future be going to follow up the first SNP pack with one or more to further define your haplogroup, then do not bother with any SNP packs at all, just do the Big Y 500 test as an upgrade from your 67 markers, and do it whilst the Christmas sale is on, this is the best bang for your buck all year, you will never need any further Y testing after this option.

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Skip the SNP packs and get a BigY-700...

Answer 4

Hi Cousin,

I also took the 23andMe DNA test, however many years ago,and ironically have the same result as you today.  Had you taken the test when I originally did, it would have reported Haplogroup R1b1b2a1a.  More recently 23andMe redefined it as R-P311 from an early ancestor associated with group M269.  We have a common ancestor that 23andMe says is the progenitor of the "Niall of Nine Hostages" dynasty, together with almost 3 million other British Isles males.

I'm no expert on DNA analysis, but I hope to take a course on triangulation techniques this winter to determine the ancestors of my paternal great, great grandfather, Geo W. Campbell.  Wouldn't it be interesting if they were yours, also?

Comments

My brother took the 23andme DNA test and he was haplogroup R-P311 and I’m having trouble researching this. Any information would be helpful.

Thank you

Shirley

Answer 5

We aren't dealing with different results. FTDNA R1b defaults at R-M269 for those of Western European ancestry who don't test deeper. R-P311 is downstream from R-M269, but just upstream of R-U106 and R-P312. ISOGG (International Society Of Genetic Genealogy) provides a clever way of predicting from there, providing you've done Y-DNA STR testing at a company like FTDNA, whether you are R-U106 (Germanic) or R-P312 (Celtic). https://isogg.org/wiki/Haplogroup_R1b_%28Y-DNA%29