TASK OF THE MONTH
You decide to upload your DNA to Gedmatch. You’ve read and are happy with their terms and conditions. But what does it mean all mean? Joan mentioned in her email that Gedmatch was confusing, hopefully this will give you the confidence to have a go. Note that I logged in using the new website rather than the classic.
1 I have uploaded several tests to Gedmatch with permission from their owners. They appear as ‘Your DNA resources’ with a unique kit number. The letters at the beginning of the kit number used to denote which DNA company it was from but newer kits have random letters.
2 Clicking on a kit number will bring up the screen below. When you first use Gedmatch, leave the parameters as you see it and just press submit. Once you are confident you can then have a play!
3 This is my dad’s list of ‘one to many’; basically all the people who match my father’s test in descending order. If you click on a kit number in blue you will see all that person’s matches on Gedmatch not just their matches with you. Make sure you check on kit number and name on the top of the screen so you are looking at your results and not someone else’s!
3 cont. For beginner purposes, you only need to understand the following numbers under the autosomal heading. Total cm is how much DNA the kit holder and that match share. ‘Largest seg’ is the longest segment from the total. You will see in your list that sometimes the total and longest is the same, meaning you share only one segment over 7cms (the Gedmatch default) with that match.
Gen is the distance, generation wise, the kit owner and match are from each other. I’m at the top of the list and a parent/child relationship shows as 1. 2 would denote two generations to our shared ancestors so would be a 1st cousin, (granny-dad-me; granny-auntie-cousin). You can see, however, that most of the numbers are decimals because these numbers are guidelines a bit like 3rd to 4th cousin. Gedmatch cannot tell you your exact relationship, merely an estimate. Your DNA Helper https:// familytr.ee/helper is a helpful site if you would like to know more.
4 Clicking a blue number under the ‘largest’ column will perform a 1:1 between the kit listed above the matches and the chosen kit. Basically, this will show you where you and the match share segments of DNA. The screen below shows what will appear. Scroll down the page and press ‘compare’
You will get a screen showing all the chromosomes. The blue is where the two kits share DNA.