I'm frequently asked if there is a British option for DNA testing for genealogy. It's natural to think that folks with British ancestry might have more luck finding matches if the company used is UK based. I have to tell them that while there are UK-based companies there tests are not as complete as those from the large US companies, and not as good value.
Today, thanks to a tweet from Debbie Kennett, a new UK-based DNA testing company surfaced, DNA Me at www.dna-me.co.uk/.
The nature of the company business is evident from the home page:
Where did I come from?
"Just like footprints on wet sand, the journey of our ancestors to populate the world left trails within us. These trails are carried in all of our cells and laid within our genes. We offer you a way to analyse your DNA and to find out the journey of your ancestors from Africa, 150,000 years ago, up to the present time...."Demo results shown are basic paternal Y-DNA and maternal (mitochrondial) haplotypes. There is also a tab for an autosomal result but it shows only a basic continental scale ancestry distribution based on the Y chromosome test.
What's being offered is a deep ancestry (anthropological) test for £50, reduced from £65 for limited time.
According to the website DNAme is a product released by KIS-Healthcare Ltd, a UK registered company at Photo-Me House, Church road, Bookham, Surrey KT23 3EU. That's just south of the M25 near Leatherhead. KIS-Healthcare has no active website.
There is no information on the number of markers tested, no indication the raw data results are provided. Its not providing a service of interest for those seeking matches in a genealogical timeframe.
1 comment:
Interestingly we've noted from their terms and conditions that DNAme send their kits to a third-party laboratory in Canada for processing. There is also another UK company called Britains DNA - a reincarnation of Ethnoancestry. Their focus is also on deep ancestry.
You might like to read the information on the ISOGG Wiki page about Britains DNA:
http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Britains_DNA
Look in particular at the blog posts that are linked in the news section.
Most people in the UK are now quite happy to send their samples to America to Family Tree DNA or 23andMe, but there are people who would prefer to "keep their DNA in the UK" and use a British company. Unfortunately there is no viable option for genetic genealogy purposes.
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