Got my genetics results....and what should I look for?

(Bob M) #1

So, I got my genetic results done via 23 and me. The idea was particularly to see if I had a genetic marker that people on Reddit Saturated fat said might indicate a detriment with saturated fat intake in terms of obesity. (Which is based on crap-idemiology, so it’s unsure how true this would be anyway.)

My result? Normal, nothing to worry about.

But I don’t know how accurate data from 23 and me is. My grandmother on my dad’s side came from Italy. She lived with her brother/sisters in Pittsburgh, and they all spoke Italian. My dad was at least 50% Italian, and I believe he was 100% Italian. (Sadly, I never asked him before he passed. And his obituary oddly did not list his parents.)

Looking at the ancestry results, I’m flummoxed. The amount of Italian ancestry? 0.0%. None. Ah, what?

My great-grandmother on my mom’s mother’s side came to the US from Czechoslovakia and spoke no English. My amount of Czech? There’s a likely match.

My great-grandparents on my mom’s dad’s side came from Austria. Austria is not detected, though some “French & German” ancestry is listed (2.9%).

It doesn’t seem…that accurate.

Then it has random stuff like my propensity to get bitten by mosquitos is average. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I can go outside for 2 minutes and get bitten. I’m a mosquito magnet.

What else can I look for? MTHFR? I know there are other mutations that are of importance, but I forget all of them.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Don’t confuse ethnic heritage with genetic ancestry. I dated a guy once who was from Venezuela, but his ancestry was pure Czech (parents fled during World War II). He behaved and looked just like a South American, even despite the round Czech face he inherited from his father…

I don’t know how accurate the company’s choices are for genetic markers, but they used to run commercials advertising how surprised their customers were by the results. I imagine the results would be quite different if you were to compare yourself to Lombard, Neapolitan, or Sicilian sources.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

Yes, ‘ethnic’ and ‘genetic’ are frequently very different. I’m European Finn on my mother’s side - every person in my mother’s family was descended directly from Finnish immigrants to the USA in the late 19th century. A large number of these folks settled in northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP. My mother’s family settled near what is now Houghton, Mich. Yet, the Finns, along with other ‘ethnic’ groups of NE Europe and NW Russia are genetically distinct from western and central Europeans. See here, for discussion. There is strong evidence of East Asian heredity - my epicanthic eye folds, for example.

(Robin) #4

I learned that my grandma made up stories about her American Indian ancestors. My entire family tested (both thru ancestry and 23) and NOPE. Then we started following all the family tree and there simply was no link. But no worries… my grandma was a wonderful happy person and storyteller. We were all richer for her tales, true or not.

(Kelly YYC) #5

I used this (current $25) was interesting

(Kelly YYC) #6

Good article. Thanks. I’m Finnish on my moms side too, and have the “Finnish eyes”.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #7

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(Robin) #8

I thought that term referred to when the fold is over the inner corner, as in some Asiatic folks or in Down Syndrome.
Your eye folds look like mine… which I would describe as epicoldlady eyes. Lol

(Bob M) #9

Thanks, @Kelly_Shoesmith

I did not know that about genetic ancestry. But this gets confusing, and possibly I don’t understand it. For instance, I am supposedly 70.7 % eastern European, which I know is correct (not the percentage), as I know of ancestors who came from that area of Europe.

On the other hand, if my dad is 100% Italian (his whole family spoke Italian and came from southern Italy), I got zero percent Italian in me? How does that work?

I could understand a low value, but zero? In particular, since the eastern European ancestors are fairly far back (great grandmother).

Heck, I’m 2.9 percent “French & German”, but that makes sense, because my grandfather on my mom’s side had both parents from Austria (and Austria is part of “French & German”). Some Austrian, but not much.

But if my dad is 100% Italian, from Italy, and I’m zero percent Italian? Can’t wrap my head around that.

And of course, 23 and me doesn’t help by basing things off of crapidemiology. I find what they say I have a higher percentage of chance of doing, I don’t do.

(Bob M) #10

Should note those Italians are long-lived. One is 107, one died at 99, and another one is at 97 I think.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

So your father is ethnically Italian, but genetically from a different background. This is not surprising, given how many times the Italian peninsula was over-run by migrating tribes over the past two thousand years.

What bio-markers did they use to determine that your father had no Italian ancestry, by the way? Brian Sykes talks about some of these factors in his popular books on genetics. Mitochondrial DNA is very stable and and can be traced back tens of thousands of years, whereas Y-chromosomal DNA is much less stable and can be traced only a few thousand years, at best.

The Czecho-Venezuelan boyfriend I mentioned in an earlier post is an example of divergence between ethnicity and genetics. He is of European stock, but is 100% Venezuelan, having been born in Caracas, with Spanish as his mother tongue, English as a professional language, and only a smattering of Czech. To look at him, you would never guess that he was anything but Latin-American.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #12

You got a ref link? I can’t find anything about ‘epicoldlady’ eyes. Is that your own term?

(Robin) #13

Yeah… epic old lady eyes. Just having a fun pun with my droopy old eyelids.

(Joey) #14

@ctviggen You’re right, it doesn’t.

I suspect those 23 & Me tests are of dubious value… unless the FBI is looking for a cousin of yours whose DNA is a close match with a serial killer still on the loose…

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #15

Mine have been ‘droopy’ since the day I was born. Plenty of Finns have perfectly normal looking European eyes. Many have eye lids that ‘droop’ like mine. Plenty have eye lids that ‘droop’ from the inner corner as well. The link in my original response is a very detailed investigation why so.

(Kelly YYC) #16

Me too. I was asked by an Asian girl when I was 14 if I was part Asian (tho I had blond hair, green eyes). She said it was my eyes. The article was great. I think the Sami are related to northern peoples across Canada, Russia, etc.

(Edith) #17

Maybe he was not 100% Italian like he thought? And/or maybe he was adopted and didn’t know it? Maybe there were some… ahem…. indiscretions in the family?

The other thing I read is due to the way genes split into eggs and crossing over, siblings can actually come out with different ethnic percentages. Maybe that?

I found out I was 14% Ashkenazi Jew, but there are no known Jews in my family. My Dad is from Germany. I figure it must be from his side. Maybe due to all the anti-semitism in Europe, some great-grandparent of mine kept their ethnicity a secret.

#18

My grandfather was northern Italian from near the Swiss border. My husband’s family who were from the Naples area told me my grandfather wasn’t Italian but Swiss. My grandfather did not think Italians from “the boot” were true Italians. So…

(Bob M) #19

Actually, it’s really, really bad. Really bad. Stunningly bad.

It appears that my mother had a child with my “father” (at least 50% Italian). That child (girl) was given up for adoption. My ancestry shows her as a half-sister. Her birth certificate lists my mother and a different person I never heard of. But she’s not related to him, as he has no Italian ancestry, and she does. And she was able to get in touch with his children and they took a genetics test, and the genetics test indicated they are not related. The story she was told was that she was given up for adoption because the person listed as her father was away in the military, and her mother had an affair (with my Italian “father”), and had to give up the daughter.

My half-sister is listed as having 17% Italian ancestry, which is reasonable if my dad was “50%” Italian, AND her listed cousins are from the extended family of my father’s. Same last name for some of them. (Note: We cannot find out who my dad’s father is, as his mother raised him alone.)

My half-sister was able to get marriage/divorce certificates, and my mother was married to “Paul” at the time, who is on the birth certificate, but they got a divorce and my mother married my “father” almost immediately thereafter (and was pregnant with me).

My half-sister was born about a year before I was born. My (half) brother about 2 years later

I have no Italian in my genetics, and NONE of my listed cousins are from the extended family of my father’s. They are completely different lineage. My “father” is not my actual father.

So, my brother got his results. He’s listed as a half-brother to me and to my half-sister. My “father” is also not his father. My brother’s genetics shows no Italian in him, and NONE of his listed cousins are from the extended family of my father’s. And his genetics, while European, is much different from mine.

Just to clarify: my “father” raised two children who were not his. My mother had 3 children from three different fathers, even while married to people who weren’t the father. My “father” and mother got a divorce when I was very young, though we do not have that divorce document. My “father” had a child who actually (we believe) was his, but I don’t believe he ever knew about this child.

That’s what you can get when you mess with genetics.

And the only person who can answer these questions (my mother) passed away January 2nd of this year.

Needless to say, I’ve not had time or the inclination to delve more into genetics for health reasons.

#20

I suspect this happens more often than suspected. But however each of us got here, we still have to make the best of what we’ve got to work with. The ‘father’ who helped nurture us did more than the guy who donated sperm. Unless, of course, the donated sperm had some serious genetic issues.