Why Y-DNA and mtDNA Are Useful for Genealogy

I often hear about Y-DNA and mtDNA being useless, or almost useless, for genealogical purposes. The main reason is simple – not many people have done deep Y-DNA or full mtDNA testing. While many have done Y-12 to Y-37 testing and a fair number of people have done some level of mtDNA testing, most of those have not done Y-67, Y-111, or Big-Y 700 testing or full mtDNA testing.

Using FamilyTree DNA (FTDNA) database information (current as of when this post went live – March 28, 2019) – https://www.familytreedna.com/why-ftdna.aspx, slightly over 195,000 have tested at Y-67 with no mention of how many have tested at Y-111 or Big-Y and just over 167,000 have tested with FGS (mtDNA). That’s a very small number of testers out of the 15 million who have tested with AncestryDNA.

About The Family Tree DNA Database

Our databases are the most comprehensive in the field of Genetic Genealogy. As of March 28, 2019, the Family Tree DNA database has 1,035,983 records. Total numbers include transfers from the Genographic Project and resellers in Europe and Middle East. We also have:

• 10,368 Group Projects
• 634,506 unique surnames
• 706,124 Y-DNA records in the database
• 384,138 25-marker records in the database
• 362,649 37-marker records in the database
• 195,081 67-marker records in the database
• 329,859 mtDNA records in the database
• 167,078 FGS records in the database

I am not counting those who tested with 23andMe, LivingDNA, FindMyPastDNA, Geno 2.0 or 2.0 Next, or similar companies where the DNA results include basic or intermediate Y-DNA and mtDNA  haplogroups. I am also not including Full Genomes Corporation (FGC) or YSEQ.net as I haven’t seen recent numbers for those companies although they do offer deep DNA testing. Both companies also offer full DNA testing as do a few other companies, like Dante Labs.

Until such time as deep Y-DNA and full mtDNA testing comes down in pricing, I expect the benefits of these two (2) DNA tests will remain limited.

The good news is Dante Labs and Veritas Genetics – Veritas Genetics and Dante Labs $199 Sale offered $199 DNA testing November 2018. Currently, Dante Labs is offering $149 DNA testing through the end of the month on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dante-Labs-Wellness-Healthcare-Professionals/dp/B07DNHDV4Y.

Some experts predict within the next 3 – 5 years that full DNA testing will drop to $99. That may sound like a pipe dream, but when I first considered testing, the price for autosomal DNA testing was $299. Now, it’s $79 – 99 with sales as low as $49 or less.

That’s not counting government programs that have started offering wide-scale full DNA testing to a growing number of individuals. For example, in the U. S. All of Us DNA 2019 Update.