Family Tree DNA

FamilyTreeDNA is a division of Gene by Gene, a commercial genetic testing company based in Houston, Texas. FamilyTreeDNA offers analysis of autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and mitochondrial DNA to individuals for genealogical purpose. With a database of more than two million records, it is the most popular company worldwide for Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA, and the fourth most popular for autosomal DNA. In Europe, it is the most common also for autosomal DNA. Family Tree DNA and Gene by Gene were taken over by MyDNA, an Australian company in January 2021.
History.
Concept and founding (2000–2002).
FamilyTreeDNA was founded based on an idea conceived by Bennett Greenspan, a lifelong entrepreneur and genealogy enthusiast. In 1999, Greenspan had entered semi-retirement and was working on his family history. He began work on his mother's Nitz lineage. When faced with a roadblock in his work, he remembered two cases of genetics being used to prove ancestry that had recently been covered by the media. These were a study by University of Arizona researchers showing that many Cohen men from both Ashkenazic and Sephardic groups share the same Y-chromosome and a study that showed that male descendants of a paternal uncle of US President Thomas Jefferson (who presumably shared his Y-chromosome) and male-line descendants of his freed slave Sally Hemings shared the same Y-chromosome and a recent common ancestry.
Greenspan had both Nitz cousins in California and had discovered someone in Argentina with the same ancestral surname and the same ancestral location in Eastern Europe. Wishing to use the same method of DNA comparison for his own genealogy, he contacted Dr. Michael Hammer at the University of Arizona. Greenspan discovered that academic labs did not offer testing directly to the public and that in general direct to consumer testing for genealogy was not commercially available either. Their conversation inspired him to start a company dedicated to using genetics to solve genealogy problems.
It was early 2000 when Greenspan with his business partners Max Blankfeld and Jim Warren officially launched FamilyTreeDNA. Initially, the Arizona Research Labs at the University of Arizona performed all testing for FamilyTreeDNA. FamilyTreeDNA includes among its scientific staff, Dr. Michael Hammer (PhD), one of a team of scientists that first published on the Cohen Modal Haplotype in 1997 in the journal Nature.
FamilyTreeDNA began with a proof in concept group of twenty-four that returned results in January. They began by offering 12 Y-chromosome STR marker tests much like those used in many scientific publications of the time in March 2000. FamilyTreeDNA became widely known for its Y-chromosome STR testing for the Cohen Modal Haplotype.
Soon, they were offering not only DNA tests but an interface by which dedicated genealogists could run surname research studies. The first person to create such a project through the FamilyTreeDNA site was Doug Mumma, hence it was called the Mumma project.
Early testing (2000–2006).
The first tests offered by FamilyTreeDNA were Y-chromosome STR and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) tests like those used by published academic studies at the time.
FamilyTreeDNA's initial Y-chromosome tests were described as 11 marker tests. They eventually began to call this a 12 STR marker test as one of the STRS (DYS385) almost always had two copies. This they billed as a method to affirm or disprove a genealogical connection on the direct paternal line.
FamilyTreeDNA's first mtDNA tests were for HVR1 (hypervariable region 1) of the mtDNA. Eventually, they added a Plus test that tested for both HVR1 and HVR2.
In the early days, they did not confirm haplogroups for either mtDNA or Y-DNA.
Opening of the Genomics Research Center.
In 2006, FamilyTreeDNA bought out the assets of DNA-Fingerprint, which was a German paternity testing company that offered à la carte testing to the genetic genealogy testing community. With this buyout, Thomas and Astrid Krahn, who had owned DNA-Fingerprint, moved to Houston, Texas, and helped open the Genomics Research Center.
The Genomics Research Center initially did testing for many of the same products that had been sold by DNA-Fingerprint. They began to offer individual and panels of Y-chromosome SNP tests using Sanger testing methods. They also offered the mtDNA full genome test and upgrades to it using the Sanger testing method.
Soon came the launch of the "Walk Through the Y" (WTY) test. The WTY test offered the most adventurous of citizen scientists the chance to seek the discovery of new Y-chromosome SNPs.
Meanwhile, most testing continued to be done at the University of Arizona lab. The demand for additional test types led Greenspan and Blankfeld to move all testing to their own testing lab in Houston, Texas under the Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd. parent company.
Partnerships.
Between 2007 and 2010, FamilyTreeDNA forged several new partnerships that allowed them to access additional international markets.
iGENEA
The first of FamilyTreeDNA's new partnerships was with the Switzerland-based iGENEA company. It was formed alongside the closing of DNA-Fingerprint and Thomas Krahn's helping open the Genomic Research Center in Houston. Their website is available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
African DNA
In late 2007, Henry Louis Gates created African DNA in partnership with FamilyTreeDNA to help promote genetic testing for personal ancestry among African Americans.
DNA Ancestry & Family Origin
DNA Ancestry & Family Origin DNA Ancestry & Family Origin is a genetic genealogy testing partnership between FamilyTreeDNA and Eastern Biotech & Life Sciences. Their website is available in both English and Arabic.
MyHeritage
In November 2008, a dynamic partnership with MyHeritage was launched, allowing users to incorporate DNA testing and advanced family tree technologies into their family history research. MyHeritage is a website offering online, mobile and software platforms for discovering, preserving and sharing family history worldwide.
Acquisition by MyDNA (2021).
In January 2021 it was announced that MyDNA a Melbourne, Australia, genomics company, had acquired Family Tree DNA and its parent company Gene by Gene. MyDNA specialises in healthcare and wellness based on genetics.
DNA testing products.
Autosomal DNA testing.
In May 2010, FamilyTreeDNA launched an autosomal microarray chip based DNA test. They called the new product Family Finder. The initial product used an Affymetrix microarray chip, but FamilyTreeDNA changed to the Illumina OmniExpress chip and retested all customers who had results from the Affymetrix chip for forward compatibility.
Family Finder allows customers to match relatives as distant as about fifth cousins. Family Finder also includes a component called myOrigins. The results of this test provide percentages of a DNA associated with general regions or specific ethnic groups (e.g. Western Europe, Asia, Jewish, Native American, etc.). Notably, unlike other testing companies, they chose to strip out markers for mendelian medical issues, mtDNA results, and Y-DNA SNP results.
Y DNA testing.
The company markets a range of Y-DNA tests. The Y-chromosome is inherited from father to son, so testers can discover relatives with the same patrilineage. In many cultures these relatives will often share the same surname, since surnames are also inherited father to son. These tests cover 37-111 STR markers depending on the test, and vary in price according to the number of markers covered. Once an individual has tested at least 12 STR markers, he may take the "Big Y" test. Big Y tests approximately 20,000 SNPs.
mtDNA testing.
FamilyTreeDNA also sells mtDNA testing, offering the choice of either a limited hypervariable region test, or a full sequence test of the entire mitochondrial DNA chromosome.
Genographic Project.
FamilyTreeDNA staff were instrumental in developing the Geno 2.0 Next Generation product for the second phase of the Genographic Project. Geno 2.0 samples for both public and scientific study were run at the Genomics Research Center in Houston, Texas (operated by FamilyTreeDNA's parent company, Gene by Gene, Ltd.) until 2016, when Geno 2.0 began utilizing Helix for DNA sequencing.
Gene by Gene.
In September 2012, Greenspan and Blankfeld restructured FamilyTreeDNA's parent company, Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd. This included their renaming Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd. as Gene by Gene, Ltd. After restructuring, the business comprises four divisions one of these being FamilyTreeDNA for genealogical DNA tests. It is Gene by Gene, Ltd. that now operates the Genomics Research Center (GRC) lab in Houston, Texas.
Data policy and usage by law enforcement.
In December 2018, FamilyTreeDNA changed its terms of service to allow law enforcement to use their service to identify suspects of "a violent crime" (defined as child abduction, sexual assault or homicide) or identify the remains of victims. The company confirmed it was working with the FBI on at least a handful of cases. As of March 2019, the company instituted a policy allowing its customers to opt out of law enforcement access to their genetic data. All customers were automatically opted in to such exposure except those living in the European Union who were opted out by default. Law enforcement officers will be required to go through a more rigorous process in order to access the database, while customers who opt out of allowing the FBI to access their data will still be able to search for possible relatives as before. “Users now have the ability to opt out of matching with DNA relatives whose accounts are flagged as being created to identify the remains of a deceased individual or a perpetrator of homicide or sexual assault, also referred to as Law Enforcement Matching (LEM),” the company wrote in an email to customers. In May 2019 FamilyTreeDNA prevented access to its Y-DNA database ysearch.org and its mtDNA data base mitosearch making it more difficult for law enforcement agencies to identify crime suspects. In August 2019, FamilyTreeDNA reported that about 50 law enforcement agencies had submitted DNA samples for matching and that almost 150 cases had been submitted. By spring 2020, only around 3% of about 2 million users have opted out. By August 2020, the company helped solve at least 27 cases.