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Archiver > PIATT > 2006-03 > 1143049672


From:
Subject: DNA testing changes
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 17:47:52 +0000


Family Tree DNA, the company we use for our Piatt Surname DNA study, has announced a new 59 marker Y-DNA test which will cost $269.

Our study started with the 25 marker test, and although the 37 marker test has been available for some time, none of our participants has upgraded to 37 markers.

There has been a question of whether we would gain enough addition information from the extra markers to warrant the expense of the upgrade. I have not been urging the upgrade because the timeline for those who match at 25/25 is rather short. Documentation, circumstantial evidence and DNA results suggest that those who match at 25 descend from Rene Piatt who died in NJ in 1705. Individual Earliest Known Ancestors of our participants should be Rene's grandsons or great-grandsons. In order for the upgrade to be beneficial we would have to be "guaranteed" mutations in those additional markers (to indicating branching) to warrant the upgrade. I'm not sure that would occur in only two or three generations. In other words, if we upgraded to 37 and all matched 37/37 we would have no more information than we do now.

With the introduction of the 59 marker test, FTDNA has also decided to scrap the 25 marker test, the one we have been using. Therefore, I would recommend any future participants order the 37 marker test, at $189, as the base test. (The 12 marker test is still available but doesn't tell much.)

Since the 37 marker test would now be "standard," should any of the 25 marker test participants want to upgrade to 37 markers, the upgrade is available for $49. Further information on all the tests, upgrades, and prices can be found at:

http://www.familytreedna.com

And here's a reminder about Piatt Research Conference in Doylestown PA, June 18-24, 2006. It's been a long, dreary winter and I haven't heard from many of you who I believe will be coming to conference. Please send me notice offlist at:



if you are coming. We hope to see many of you there. It's a great location for searching those northern NJ counties and it isn't all that far over to Newark for the state historical society either.
--
Laverne Ingram Piatt
Ontario, OH


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