Instructions for extracting Y chromosome marker values from the Sorenson Molecular

Genealogy Foundation Y chromosome database

1. Go to the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation Y chromosome database at http://www.smgf.org/ychromosome/search.jspx.
2. In the “Parameters” box select the lab standard as “Relative Genetics”.
3. In the “Parameters” box select “Search by Surname” and enter the Mennonite surname you are planning to search for.
4. In the “Values” box click on “Default Values”.
5. Click on the “Search” button at the bottom of the screen.
6. If a person (or persons) of Mennonite ancestry with the surname you are searching for has Y chromosome data in the SMGF database a screen should appear that says “Y-Chromosome Search Results” and the marker results for that person (or persons) should appear in a row with the names of each marker shown above the results for that marker. Any marker values for that person that match the default marker values will appear on the screen in light blue. Any marker values for that person that don’t match the default marker values will appear on the screen in dark blue.
7. Click on the small button that looks like a small pedigree chart on the left side of the screen just below “Pedigree” for each person whose surname matches the surname of the person you are searching for until you have found the pedigree chart of the person you would like to extract the marker results for.
8. Close the pedigree screen.
9. Record the values for all markers that match (those in light blue) from the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen into a spreadsheet or anywhere you would like to record the values.
10. Click on the “Search Again” button, which should take you back to the “Search the Y Chromosome Database” screen.
11. Increase the marker value settings by 1 for all makers that did not match on the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen but do not change the marker value settings for those markers that already matched. As a general rule, do not test the marker values that are a not a whole number (for example “19.2”) since these marker values are relatively rare and thus will not likely be the matching value you are seeking. Check the marker values that are not whole numbers only after having checked all the markers that are whole numbers.
12. Click on the “Search” button again.
13. When the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen appears make note of any additional markers that match.
14. Click on the “Search Again” button, which should take you back to the “Search the Y Chromosome Database” screen.
15. Once again, increase the marker value settings by 1 for all makers that did not match on the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen but do not change the marker value settings for those markers that already matched.
16. Click on the “Search” button again.
17. When the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen appears make note of any additional markers that match.
18. Click on the “Search Again” button, which should take you back to the “Search the Y Chromosome Database” screen.
19. Decrease the marker value settings by 3 for all makers that did not match on the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen but do not change the marker value settings for those markers that already matched.
20. Click on the “Search” button again.
21. When the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen appears make note of any additional markers that match.
22. Click on the “Search Again” button, which should take you back to the “Search the Y Chromosome Database” screen.
23. Decrease the marker value settings by 1 for all makers that did not match on the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen but do not change the marker value settings for those markers that already matched.
24. Click on the “Search” button again.
25. When the “Y-Chromosome Search Results” screen appears make note of any additional markers that match.
26. At this point you should have completed 5 searches (the initial search on the default marker settings and a search of all values 1 or 2 numbers above the default settings and a search of all values 1 or 2 numbers below the default settings. A significant majority of the marker values should now appear in light blue and thus match the values for the person who was originally tested.
27. Continue repeating steps #23-25 changing the marker values for those markers you have not yet found a match for until you have found matches for all 43 of the Y chromosome markers that the SMGF tests for. The results for some markers such as DYS464 may be missing if the SMGF hasn’t yet tested all of the markers. In some cases if you haven’t found a match by the time you have checked the lowest value for a marker you will need to check the highest potential values for that marker if they weren’t checked in your earliest searches. The values for some markers such as DYS385, DYS 459 and YCAII are more challenging to determine since there are more than 20 potential values for these markers. In the case of DYS385 there are a total of 100 potential values for the marker. In the case of YCAII there are a total of 59 potential values for the marker. Thus, in a worst case scenario you might need to make 100 searches to find all of the values for a particular person. If after checking 8 or so potential marker values for any specific marker you still have not found the matching marker value for that marker it would be appropriate to check the relative frequencies of each of the marker values for that specific marker. You can find the relative frequencies of each of the marker values for any specific marker by clicking on the name of the marker on the main search screen at http://www.smgf.org/ychromosome/search.jspx. For example, the relative frequencies of each of the marker values for the YCAII marker are found at http://www.smgf.org/ychromosome/marker_details.jspx?marker=YCAII. Try entering the marker values you haven’t yet checked that appear with the highest frequency on these tables. This will increase your chances of finding a match more quickly than if you were to simply randomly try all of the potential marker values. Hopefully on average no more than 20 searches will be required to extract all the marker results for any one person.
28. If you know at least some of the marker values for the person you are trying to determine the marker values for from another source (such as Family Tree DNA or another lab), then change the default values to the marker values you know from that source if they happen to be different than the default values. If you do the search using marker values from Family Tree DNA as the basis for your initial search then make sure that you set the lab standard to “Family Tree DNA” in the “Parameters” box on the main search screen at http://www.smgf.org/ychromosome/search.jspx.
29. If you have already determined the marker results for one person with a particular surname and there are other people with the same surname that you also need to determine the marker results for, then try entering the marker results for other people with that surname on the main search screen at http://www.smgf.org/ychromosome/search.jspx rather than starting with the default settings. If the two people have the same progenitor then their marker values will either match or come very close to matching. Determining any differences in the marker values between two people with the same progenitor would thus be much easier than if you started with the default settings.
30. Bear in mind that the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation web site only allows you to do 50 searches of the Y chromosome database per day. Thus, if you have exhausted your 50 searches on a particular day you must wait until the next day to do additional searches to complete your extraction of the markers for a specific person.