Watch Corporate Genealogist, Crista Cowen, as she provides a comprehensive walk-through of the yearly AncestryDNA® Origins Update. The key objective of this event was to explain the updated results, share examples, review the basics of DNA inheritance, and answer viewer questions regarding their AncestryDNA® origins. This update is significant because it involves running tested DNA through an updated algorithm and then comparing that to an updated reference panel. The reference panel has been dramatically increased and now includes 185,000 samples and divides the world into 146 different regions, allowing for greater nuance and precision in results.
Crista began the event began by establishing a foundational understanding of DNA inheritance, noting that every person inherits a random 50% of their mother's DNA and a random 50% of their father's DNA. This randomness is important because 50% of a parent's DNA is not perfectly passed on, which explains why certain known ancestral places may not appear in an individual's DNA origins. Key changes introduced in the update (released October 9th for all users) include the refinement of broad regions and results now organized under macro regions (like Celtic and Gaelic, or Central and Eastern Europe). Crista explained the importance of exploring results by clicking through regions to see detailed maps of concentrated centers and overlapping boundaries, as country borders are historically unstable and do not define population movement. The virtual event concluded by discussing AncestryDNA Journeys, which show family migration within the last couple hundred years based on genetic clusters, providing a focused path for continued genealogical research.
Chapters:
- Introduction
- Foundational Review of DNA Inheritance
- The AncestryDNA® Origins Update: Reference Panel and Algorithm
- Navigating New Regions & Macro Regions
- DNA Journeys and Family History Discovery
Explore your updated AncestryDNA® origins results, click through your new regions, and use your journeys to make more discoveries in your family tree!