How Phasing At 23andMe Improved My Results

My Mother's results were phased with mine a couple of weeks after her initial results came in.

My unphased results seemed to suggest my father had some Native American admixture. After phasing practically all of my Native America shifted to my maternal side. It does look like around 1% still remains with my paternal line. I've been trying to establish whether my father did have a Native American ancestor? It's possible we descend from the Half King Tanacharison? Probably impossible to prove or disprove a connection from 17th century Pennsylvania?


Pre phasing

I am part French Canadian and have had a number of matches from that line. It was interesting to see French/German percentages increase after phasing. I was 5.6% French/German before phasing. Now I'm 12.1%.  This is through my paternal side. I believe this percentage also includes my Burgenland, Austria ancestry. My Eastern European increased from 1.7% to 4.8% for my paternal line. The higher percentage is correct because my paternal Grandfather was Eastern European. I always thought that my paternal Grandfather was substantially Ashkenazi, but I see no evidence of that in our DNA results? Oddly I'm finding some Ashkenazi on my mother's side? I'm now showing a trace of Ashkenazi through my mother's line. I didn't have any before phasing.

This is what my phased paternal results look like.

My maternal phased line improved also after phasing. My mother was half Nicaraguan on her Mother's side, and mostly Scots-Irish and German on her father's side. The other DNA testing companies failed to find much Iberian admixture in our results. Our results at 23andMe, post phasing, show substantial Iberian admixture. I was 6% Iberian before phasing, and now I am 16% after phasing.
Here is my ethnicity prediction for my Maternal line.

 

Phasing against my mother improved the accuracy of our results. Instead of ethnicity being assigned to broad categories the results became more specific.

 

I'm also happy with the fact my matches have an M if they also match my mother.

Testing both parents. or a parent, if possible is very helpful. It's especially useful at 23andMe.

 





 

Final 23andMe Results Come In Before Mother's Passing

My mother Edna Forgey-Kapple died on August 24, 2015. She had been  bedridden for a couple years. Her quality of life was poor, so her passing was a blessing. She tested with 23andMe about a month before she passed away. I wasn't sure if she would pass their test considering her declining health condition, but she did.

The initial result was the Neanderthal percentage. My Mom had a higher percentage of Neanderthal. She had 3.3 and I have 3.1.

Unphased X Mom Orange Native
American Blue European

The next result to show up was the ethnicity predictions. The initial predictions didn't seem accurate, when looking at the unphased chromosome view. This was very apparent when looking at the X chromosome.  As you can see in the image, above left, the unphased side representing my Grandfather, who was primarily Scots-Irish and German, was given some Native American. I have not found any Native American ancestors in his line. After our results were phased all of the Native American was moved to the side representing my maternal Great-Grandmother who

was Nicaraguan. This seems correct. My own results were also corrected. The Native American on my paternal X is now on my maternal side, which makes more sense. Our Iberian and Southern European percentage also increased substantially after phasing. This makes sense considering our Hispanic/Nicaraguan roots. According to AncestryDNA our Southern European is mainly Italian? This doesn't really make sense considering our Hispanic heritage. I know the ethnicity results aren't conclusive proof of anything, but I do feel like 23andMe's phased results are closest to correct.

Phasing has left a trace amount of possible Native American on both my father's side, and maternal grandfather's side. I do see possible Native American on my father's side, but none on my maternal grandfather's side.

Looking at the phasing that 23andMe did for ethnicity I have to say they were right on the mark when it came to separating out my mother's parents' ethnicities.

The ethnicity predictions also look good when comparing my Mom's two nieces and nephew. It's especially apparent when comparing on the X.


Two Nieces are green and blue. Nephew Purple
Shared segments with my Mom
 

Aunt's Ethnicity (my mother)

Niece 1 Ethnicity results

Niece 2 Ethnicity results

 

Nephew Ethnicity



Where Nieces (sisters) share with each other.
Light blue half identical. Blue fully identical.

It appears that my Mom, her Nieces, and Nephew inherited quite a bit of common DNA on the X. Niece 1 shares DNA along the entire X with my Mom. This is because she inherited nearly her entire X chromosome from her maternal grandfather. Since her mother was my Mom's sister, this could occur. Sisters inherit identical paternal X chromosomes, which is why Niece 1 shares DNA on the entire X.

Another conclusion we can draw is that the Nieces (sisters) share European DNA from their maternal Grandfather at the start of their maternal X. This is because this portion of my Mom's maternal X is Native American, and her paternal X at this position is European. It also supports the fact Niece 1 inherited almost her entire X from her grandfather.

The final results to come in were the match results. I found some close matches. I have been able to get the segment information for most of her close matches. Hoping the segment information may eventually prove helpful in breaking down some brick walls. I'm so glad I tested my Mom with 23andMe. She definitely lives on, along with all of our departed relatives, as can be seen in our common DNA.