<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6002.18100" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>That is what is so exciting about the new Relative Finder. Before this, it was hit or miss trying to locate others who had been tested and who were willing to share enough info to find any cousins--distant or close. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now, the Relative Finder tool gives us all a list (for me there are 186 matches ranging from probable 3rd cousins down to distant cousins (probably around 7th to 10th cousins). We still have to make the contacts and make the connections but at least we are being given a clue of WHO to contact.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I believe a few other companies are also doing autosomal and X testing but as far as I know 23andme is the cheapest of the lot because it is partly subsidized by the husband of one of the two co-founders of the company (a co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin). </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I don't know the algorithm they are using for the new tool but it appears to be MUCH more accurate than any matching tool they used in the past. My experience so far bears that out. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There is always Y search and mitosearch for finding matches of the traditional DNA testing for genealogical purposes but most companies don't test the exact same markers so it is often like comparing apples and oranges. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>23andme has a partnership with AncestryDNA but I don't know yet if or how those people tested with AncestryDNA are being included in the data being compared by this new tool. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Joan</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 10/29/2009 7:40:59 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, scott@appletree.com writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>I understand what you were saying now.  Wow, I wonder what the odds are of finding matches.  Do they publish any numbers?  Number of entries in their database you can match against, average number of matches?<BR><BR>I'm also wondering if there are any other DNA testing companies that affordably test X and autosomal chromosomes to the degree necessary to find relationships the way 23andme does?  I see Family Tree DNA offers those tests at reasonable prices.  Are those sufficient?  Of course, then they would also have to facilitate the matching process.<BR><BR>It would be interesting to either have a master database or service that DNA testing companies participate with to find relationships across DNA databases.<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>