I got an email this morning with a subject
Exact match
The upshot is that I have a previously unknown relation in… Oregon.
It turns out that since we are an exact match for the genetic loci used by familytreedna they copied him on the posting of the results to the website, and I ended up reading his “hello” email before the results announcement.
When I was at graduate school in Ohio I once shocked the genteel guests of one of the professors who occasionally invited my wife and I to dinner by saying that I only had one known relation in America, a distant cousin, and that he’d been in jail in Oklahoma for more than 20 years. Then, after they’d managed not to snort their soup, I added, to the visible relief of the professor’s wife and a lady with a beehive hairdo
where he’s the prison chaplain.
I had already received the mtRNA results, together with a nice map showing which of several coloured lineages radiating from Africa I was associated with.
Now, I’m invited to pay some more to have another batch of loci sequenced and my affinity with either of two known lineages determined. I am not sure I’ll bother just now. I’ll keep an eye on 23andme’s pricing and ante up for a whole genome sequence when it falls to $1,000 or less.
My results came with some interesting advice about the security of the data, which I haven’t digested yet. I must Google “genetic impersonation” later.
Meanwhile, The New York Times has an article on exploring ancient Rome virtually, which triggers thoughts of Genebook meets Second Life, or “Meet your Ancestors.”
What amusement our descendents have to look forward to.
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All you need to know about genetic impersonation can be learned by watching Gattaca. Oh and Jude Law and Ethane Hawk are so yummy too!
Looks interesting, thanks for the tip.
Interesting (and hilarious soup snarfing moments) spinning off all those family tree widgets and Facebook finds in six degrees mode…But on a real life note, my goddaughter (sperm donor scenario) recently found her sibling via the DSR http://www.donorsiblingregistry.com and met him for a “play date!” Gotta say, descendants indeed have their hands full on the who’s who in genetics down the line! Great post, thanks…
There’s an advertisement on the London underground trains at the moment for a meeting for women interested in conceiving via sperm donation. Two thoughts crossed my mind
1. This must be a near mainstream activity if it’s being advertised on the London underground.
2. Is this not an enticement to certain kinds of Y chromosome owners to stalk the venue?!
As it happens there have been calls in the media this week for limits on sperm donation in the UK to be lifted, so that donors may father children in MORE THAN 10 families (current limit). I had lunch with the author of “The Redundant Male” on Friday and the implications of an idea of his for exchanging plant seeds has just hit me… once people get their hands on their genomes.
Adapting an old music hall song about a banana
Chase me girls,
I’ve got a genome,
Oh what a genome!
wow. That mainstream, huh? In the tube? Sheesh. Again, big differences across the pond! And yes, it reminds me of all the ’starving artist students’ that donated blood, brain tests, guinea pig bodywork to make ends meet when I was in college…now it’s the virile sperm seeking donor deals, talk about a heat seeking missile.
Need to check out the Redundant Male book…looks interesting to add to our Institute of the Future dialogs http://www.iftf.org not to mention our collaboratory’s upcoming event here: http://programforthefuture.org
Thanks again for the insightful words…
I’ve received the following comment by email
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/the-sperm-supply-problem/