By Marybie Arias, 23andMe Intern
From birth, sisters, Marsann and Marsine have always stood out, and they’ve done it together. Born premature and in each others&#8217; arms these twins shared more than just a birthday, they a deep connection to their family history.
<div id="attachment_26500" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26500" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_0082-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="size-large wp-image-26500" width="1024" height="683" />Marsine (left) with her twin sister Marsann.</div>
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From an early age they were both drawn to family stories and talk of their ancestors, an interest they have been able to explore by using 23andMe’s ancestry features. 
&nbsp;
“We would try to hear the stories from the elders to get more information about other relatives,” said Marsann with her sister’s agreement. 
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That’s why they pulled out all the stops for a massive family reunion over the summer in Arizona. Over a weekend in late July, the sisters invited dozens of relatives — many of whom they found with the help of 23andMe ancestry features — to what can only be described as a gala reunion — complete with a red carpet, cameras, delicious food and multiple fun activities for the family. The twins spent months planning this the reunion and inviting their far-flung relatives to spend time with family. 
&nbsp;
“(It) really brought our family closer together, and gave the younger children some sense of connection to something greater, their identity,” said Marsine. 

The reunion was the product of years spent tracing their family history. The twins often worked using paper records, but they hit a dead end when tried to go back beyond 1850. It is something faced by many African American families trying to trace their ancestors who were sold into slavery. This dead end is what prompted the sisters to do a DNA test with 23andMe. They wanted to find additional relatives and trace their roots back to Africa. 
&nbsp;
Testing with 23andMe, and using the DNA Relatives tool, also offered the twins new family connections, and they got a few additional surprises along the way. 
They discovered that their grandmother was half Native American and half European, something they didn’t know. The sisters speculated that their grandmother likely hid her European ancestry in part because she married an African American man and in Alabama at that time, mixed marriages were not only illegal, but it could also put one’s life in danger. 
&nbsp;
Along with the shocking ancestry results, the twins matched with more than 1000 close and distant relatives on 23andMe DNA Relative tool. But the sisters went a step further than just matching with relatives through 23andMe, they insisted wanted more proof that they were related, using paper records when they could find them or taping their mother. And once they made confirmations, they often took steps to meet the newly found family members. 
&nbsp;
Just to keep track and stay in touch Marsine started a facebook group page for family members they found using 23andMe DNA Relatives too! Now the group has more than 175 members. 
&nbsp;
Bringing this sprawling family together for the reunion was the culmination of all their work, and it connected everyone to their family’s rich history.
&nbsp;
Fresh off the success of one reunion, the twins are already planning on another — this one in Dallas in 2020. By then the sisters hope to have a few more family members and more stories to share.
&nbsp;
“By the next reunion, we will have some new faces to invite and introduce to the lesser known side of their family at that event,” said Marsine.
&nbsp;
Marybie is a 23andMe summer intern and a second-year student at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. She plans to transfer to the University of California at Berkeley or Santa Clara University next year and hopes to major in Business Administration.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

The DNA of a Family Reunion

23andMe’s <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Ancestry Composition report</a> is an evolving analysis of your DNA that gets more precise over time. A new update offers more detail for people with African and East Asian ancestry.
The update comes thanks to the contributions of our customers and new sources of publicly available data, such as the 1000 Genomes Project. In addition, 23andMe’s own African Genetics Project has allowed for the addition of more diverse reference populations. This, in turn, enables more detailed Ancestry Composition breakdowns for customers with African or East Asian ancestry. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26486 size-full" title="Sub-Saharian African Ancestry" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-880x660.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
<h2>Sub-Saharan Africa and Senegambian &amp; Guinean Ancestry</h2>
23andMe researchers have added nine new ancestral regions to Africa and four more to East Asia, creating the most detailed view for customers with African or East Asian ancestry. The most significant part of this update is the additional granularity for Sub-Saharan Africa. This now includes 13 distinct ancestral populations, said David Poznik, a 23andMe Senior Scientist and Population Geneticist.
“Before this update, our Sub-Saharan Africa region had just three subgroups, belying the tremendous genetic diversity within the continent,” David said. “Humans were diversifying In Africa for hundreds of thousands of years before anyone left to colonize other parts of the world.”

These changes are currently available for customers on the company’s latest genotyping chip version. Our team is working to make this update available for all customers soon.
The addition of these new reference populations follows 23andMe’s update earlier this year, which increased the number of countries and regions included in Ancestry Composition from 31 to 151. The company is constantly striving to help customers access, understand, and benefit from the human genome, and the updates are a step forward in achieving these goals.
Three rich data sources made the updates possible: the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/africa-project/">African Genetics Project</a>, for which 23andMe provided DNA kits to individuals with four grandparents born in the same African country; customer-supplied information; and the 1000 Genomes Project, a public repository of diverse human sequences.
For 23andMe, this is just the beginning of a series of updates that will increase the number of populations covered by Ancestry Composition over time. “The Global Genetics Project is an ambitious initiative that will fuel future updates,” said Poznik.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26482 size-full" title="Global Genetics Project" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map.png" alt="" width="2841" height="1509" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map.png 2841w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-300x159.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-768x408.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-1024x544.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-880x467.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-1180x627.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2841px) 100vw, 2841px" />“We have a list of around 60 countries that we’ve identified as top priorities,” he said. “These are countries with fairly large populations but that aren’t well-represented in our database. We’re giving away kits to people with ancestries from these countries because we’re eager to collect data that will enable us to improve our product for other people from these regions.”
<h2>Let’s take a deeper dive into this newest update</h2>
23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition report enables our customers to dig into the genetic origins of their ancestors. It allows customers to learn from the DNA that makes them who they are today. 23andMe provides two types of insights that delve into different periods: ancestry composition percentages and recent ancestry locations. Your Ancestry Composition report estimates the percentage of your DNA traces to different regions. We do this by comparing thousands of chunks of DNA across your genome to reference populations, individuals with known ancestry from specific regions. By comparing customer DNA segments with reference data, we can find which matches your DNA most closely. For recent ancestor locations, we look for stretches of DNA you may share identically with other 23andMe customers from particular countries. Together, these insights give customers a more complete view of their ancestry.
Thanks to our customers, particularly those who participated in the African Genetics Project, our researchers were able to begin breaking down African ancestry in more detail. 23andMe can now estimate what percentages of your DNA derive from each of 13 populations across the African continent.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26487 size-full" title="East Asian and Native American Ancestry" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-880x660.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />For details about these populations, visit our customer care webpage (Reference populations)
23andMe has also increased granularity in Southeast Asia, distinguishing four new populations: Chinese Dai, Vietnamese, Filipino &amp; Austronesian, and Indonesian, Khmer, Thai &amp; Myanma.
<h2>When will my report be updated? </h2>
Starting in July, 23andMe began making this update available to customers who were genotyped on the latest version of our genotyping chip (version 5).
Do you have an older version of our chip? Fear not—23andMe is actively working on supporting this update for customers genotyped on older chips. Existing customers will receive notifications on their reports when their results have been recalculated.
<h5>Ongoing Research 
</h5>
These new breakdowns were made possible by our customers&#8217; participation in research. In late 2016, 23andMe launched the African Genetics Project to improve diversity in research and provide better ancestry composition results for customers. More than 1,000 individuals participated in the initiative, leading to an influx of new reference data that helped to diversify our research database and has enabled 23andMe to improve results for customers with African ancestry.
23andMe is now undertaking the Global Genetics Project. As part of this effort, 23andMe is reaching out to thousands of individuals with recent heritage from over 60 countries in Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas. Check out the landing page <a href="https://www.23andme.com/global-genetics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.23andme.com/global-genetics/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1535037961314000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHEKE-k-xKQzlnPEpTtjXvcQwWQwg">here</a> to learn more.
Our reference panels include data from more than 10,000 people around the world, both from publicly available datasets (the Human Genome Diversity Project and the 1000 Genomes Project) and from many 23andMe customers who have consented to participate in research.
<h2>Updated List of Populations in Africa &amp; East Asia</h2>
Sub-Saharan Africa
Congolese
Southern East African
<ul>
<li>Kenya</li>
<li>Rwanda</li>
</ul>
Broadly Congolese &amp; Southern East African
Ethiopian &amp; Eritrean
<ul>
<li>Ethiopia</li>
<li>Eritrea</li>
</ul>
Somali
Sudanese
Broadly Northern East African
Senegambian &amp; Guinean
<ul>
<li>Guinea</li>
</ul>
Coastal West African
Nigerian
Broadly West African
<ul>
<li>Cabo Verde</li>
<li>Cameroon</li>
</ul>
African Hunter-Gatherer
Broadly Sub-Saharan African
East Asia &amp; the Americas 
Chinese
<ul>
<li>Mainland China</li>
<li>Taiwan</li>
</ul>
Chinese Dai
Vietnamese
Indonesian, Thai, Khmer &amp; Myanma
<ul>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Thailand</li>
<li>Cambodia</li>
<li>Myanmar</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
</ul>
Filipino &amp; Austronesian
<ul>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>Guam</li>
<li>Northern Mariana Islands</li>
<li>Tonga</li>
<li>American Samoa</li>
<li>Samoa</li>
</ul>
Broadly, Chinese &amp; Southeast Asian
Korean
<ul>
<li>North Korea</li>
<li>South Korea</li>
</ul>
Japanese
Broadly Korean &amp; Japanese
Native American
<ul>
<li>Argentina</li>
<li>Aruba</li>
<li>Belize</li>
<li>Bolivia</li>
<li>Brazil</li>
<li>Chile</li>
<li>Colombia</li>
<li>Costa Rica</li>
<li>Cuba</li>
<li>Dominican Republic</li>
<li>Ecuador</li>
<li>El Salvador</li>
<li>Guatemala</li>
<li>Honduras</li>
<li>Mexico</li>
<li>Nicaragua</li>
<li>Panama</li>
<li>Paraguay</li>
<li>Peru</li>
<li>Puerto Rico</li>
<li>Uruguay</li>
<li>Venezuela</li>
</ul>
Siberian
Manchurian &amp; Mongolian
<ul>
<li>Kazakhstan</li>
<li>Kyrgyzstan</li>
<li>Mongolia</li>
</ul>
Broadly, North Asian &amp; Native American
Broadly, East Asian &amp; Native American
Endnote: All 23andMe customers will soon receive 23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition update, which will include additional regions in Africa and East Asia.

New African & East Asian Details in 23andMe’s Latest Ancestry Composition Update

We know 23andMe customers want to access their genetic information and insights on whichever device they choose, so we’ve recently added an app to support the iPad.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ipadAC-211x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26333" width="211" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ipadAC-211x300.jpg 211w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ipadAC-619x880.jpg 619w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ipadAC.jpg 715w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px" />
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The new <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/23andme/id952516687?mt=8">iPad app</a> is meant to meet growing demand from customers who want to access their genetic data while they’re away from their laptop or on the go. The iPad is an excellent device for kicking back and browsing all of the interesting reports, data, and charts available to 23andMe customers. 23andMe’s updated app makes wonderful use of the unique aspects and functionality of the tablet. Here are just a few examples:
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<ul>
<li>When viewing Ancestry Composition, the map of your ancestry is bigger, more interactive, and has excellent animations as you explore and dig into the data.</li>
<li>When viewing DNA Relatives from the Connections tab, you’ll have full access to all of the filters and sorting needed to narrow in on the relative with whom you’re looking to connect.</li>
<li>If you tap on a connection from your Connections list, the compare view contains more information at a glance and lets you quickly send messages back and forth from a sidebar.</li>
</ul>

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Beyond the new iPad app, 23andMe has made many improvements to our mobile apps over the last few months including:
&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Faster startup times</li>
<li>An easy way to upload your profile photo using your phone.</li>
<li>A new research dashboard, which makes it easier to view unique 23andMe Research discoveries</li>
<li>A brand new Connections tab, where you can access your list of connections as well as DNA Relatives</li>
</ul>
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These are just a few of the improvements we’re making to the mobile experience for customers. Stay tuned; there’s more to come.

23andMe’s New iPad App

On her birthday in April Betty Jeannotte joined a pretty exclusive club when she turned 100.
She didn’t want to make a big fuss, but the managers at the senior living community where Betty lives in Florida sure wished to mark the occasion offering her a “wish of a lifetime.” Betty, who is from Maine, didn’t ask for much.
<div id="attachment_26232" style="width: 232px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26232" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Betty-Portrait-222x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26232 size-medium" width="222" height="300" />Betty Jeannotte</div>
“They asked if I wanted to take a trip back to Maine or if I wanted something else,” she said.
But Betty was more interested in learning about her ancestry, so she got a 23andMe kit and a chance to work with a genealogist to find out a little bit more about her ancestry.
“Years and years ago I’d done a little research, but I never got very far,” she said. “And I was curious.”
Her gift and gifts for others who reach this milestone is something that the<a href="https://www.brookdale.com/en.html"> Brookdale Senior Living</a> communities have been doing for years after teaming up with the non-profit<a href="http://www.wishofalifetime.org"> Wish of a Lifetime</a> in 2010. They offer seniors a chance to fulfill dreams deferred and since then they’ve offered gifts that include piloting planes, skydiving and getting behind the wheel of a racecar.
Betty wasn’t so interested in jumping out of a plane or speeding down a racetrack, but she did want to find out a little about her ancestry and used 23andMe and the help of a local genealogist to learn more about the family history. He found 7 generations of her maternal family.
“It was fascinating,” she said.
The information added another layer to what she already knew. Her 23andMe <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Ancestry Composition</a> showed she’s about 80 percent English and Irish with a little bit of German in the mix. That reflects accurately with what she knows about her parents’ family histories.
Her mom was “of Yankee stock,” while her dad, who had been a vaudeville magician, was a Bostonian whose family originally came from Ireland. He swept Betty’s mom off her feet.
“You could say that,” Betty said.
It was part of his magic trick.
Betty’s mother lived in Old Orchard Beach, which at the time was a gathering place of Bostonians and New Yorkers during the summer. Her dad, and his vaudeville partner were among the vacationers, and that’s how Betty’s mom met her dad.
<div id="attachment_26233" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26233" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Betty-Photos-e1527807973527-225x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-26233 size-medium" width="225" height="300" />Scenes from a life well lived.</div>
“Adams &amp; Mack” gave “benefit” performances for the town – Betty’s mom, who’d played the organ at church, agreed to be the musical accompaniment for the show. When they needed a volunteer for the levitating portion of their magic show, she volunteered.
“It’s a funny story,” Betty said. “My mother’s dad insisted on seeing how they did the trick before he’d allow her to do the show.”
Betty still has a snapshot of her mom floating above the stage as her dad passes a ring over her body — sweeping her off her feet.
Her dad settled in town, and her parents married. He eventually came to own and operate stores that sold newspapers and magazines and included a soda shop. He became politically active and was appointed postmaster in the ‘30s. Betty grew up a bit of a tomboy in that part of rural Maine but eventually went to college in New Jersey.
“I went to St. Elizabeth’s in Morristown and graduated in June of 1941, and you know what happened in December of that year,” Betty said.
She worked in the civil service throughout the war and corresponded with “a fella I met in college.”
That “fella” was Russell Jeannotte, who eventually would become Betty’s husband. Most of his time during the war was in North Africa where he was stationed with the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, the couple settled in Freeport, Maine, close to the original LL Bean, where Russell operated a funeral home. Betty was an elementary and middle school teacher for 28 years.
The couple had two children, a son, who went into the Army, and a daughter, who became a chiropractor. After they retired Betty and her husband moved in the early 1980s near Sarasota, Florida where some friends had settled.
“They kept saying we should move out of the cold,” she said. “I was never sorry about the move. Maine still feels like home, but I’m happy in Florida.”
In 2001 her husband died and then three years ago, Betty lost her daughter to cancer, and then something happened. Her daughter’s friends rallied around and were &#8211; and remain &#8211; so supportive, they on the Gulf Coast and Betty in Fort Lauderdale. It was their two closest family friends, one of whom is the son of Betty’s college roommate, who influenced her to move across state to Brookdale. It is those long time friends and the new Brookdale friends she has made which make each day a good one.
“I’m sometimes asked about my secret to aging,” Betty said. “I’ve never been particularly athletic. I eat well, but I don’t concentrate on it.”
And she doesn’t think it’s her genetics either. Her mother died young, at only 53. Her dad made it to 70, and even going back further, and no one made it much beyond 70.
“I guess if anyone asks me why don’t you sound like a little old lady, I guess my secret or the only reason I can account for that is I had my daughter’s friends,” Betty said. “You know when you’re surrounded by younger people it keeps you young.”

Betty’s Wish

Soccer fans in the United States have a long tradition of enduring disappointment, but the US Men National Team’s elimination late last year from the World Cup left many wondering which team to cheer for at this year&#8217;s tournament in Russia.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-300x300.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26170" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2.png 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

It’s the first time since 1990 that the team has been eliminated. So fans in the United States won’t get the chance to watch their team hold Brazil to a single goal, yes that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDGxXrCb9xw">happened</a>. Or see the team notch an <a href="https://www.si.com/longform/soccer-goals/goal5.html#colombian">improbable victory over, say, Colombia</a>, as they did way back in 1994. 

So, apart from waiting until the next World Cup in 2022, or simply watching the women’s team play next year, what is a soccer nut to do?

Here’s an idea — why not pick a team based on your genetic ancestry?

23andMe makes this a breeze with a new in-product featured called “Root for your Roots.” This allows customers to use their DNA to connect with a team that’s playing in this year’s World Cup.

Starting this week, 23andMe customers who log into their report will see a new feature that will surface those countries in the tournament that they have the strongest DNA connections with. Based on our internal data, the majority of customers have direct DNA links to the following countries (in order of most prevalent):

<ol>
<li> UK,</li>
<li> Mexico</li>
<li> Poland</li>
<li> Germany</li>
<li> Russian Federation</li>
</ol>

But even if one of your strongest DNA connections isn’t with a team you are interested in rooting for, you can pick more distant matches or a “wildcard” team with whom you have no connection, maybe an underdog team such as  <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/sports/soccer/iceland-world-cup-qualifying.html">Iceland</a> or <a href="https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/04/27/how-tragedy-turned-to-talent-and-triumph-for-egypts-national-team/">Egypt</a>. 

23andMe linked up with <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup">Fox Sports</a>, the exclusive broadcaster of the World Cup in the U.S., and launched a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2r5jQfdV3k&#038;feature=youtu.be">“Root for Your Roots”</a> campaign last month. The World Cup is a truly huge global phenomenon that brings together international fans who all share the same love of what’s known as the “beautiful game.”
“We hope this collaboration becomes a new way for people to experience global events like the World Cup,” said Tracy Keim, Vice President of Consumer Marketing at 23andMe. “We are creating an authentic experience that can open our minds and bring people together to celebrate diversity, and our global teams rooted in our DNA.”
&nbsp;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1024x565.png" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26169" width="1024" height="565" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1024x565.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-300x166.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-768x424.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-880x486.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1180x651.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-271x149.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-372x204.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1.png 1487w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />

World Cup Fans You Can Root for Your Roots

Editor&#8217;s note: We&#8217;ve included a full list of regions and countries that have been added to the Ancestry Composition report at the end of this post. 
DNA is both a blueprint for life and a record of it, allowing us to learn more about what is written in each of us as our understanding of genetics progresses.
23andMe is improving its interactive <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">Ancestry Composition report</a>, vastly increasing a person’s power to peer deeper into their genetic origins, connect them to different populations around the world, and to learn more about themselves.
<h6>Geographic Origins of Your DNA</h6>
This new update &nbsp;— which customers will begin seeing in the coming months — will compare you to more than 150 populations and regions across the globe to create a visualization of the geographic origins of your DNA.*
We all have a DNA story, and that story is part of the broader human story. It’s a history of people migrating out of Africa and venturing out to populate the globe and build new cultures. The footsteps of those ancestors can be seen in your DNA. Over millennia, as different groups of people separated from each other to move into new frontiers, small genetic changes occurred leaving us tiny clues about our history.
&nbsp;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-894x1024.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-26042 size-large" title="Ancestry Composition" width="894" height="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-894x1024.png 894w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-262x300.png 262w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-768x879.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-769x880.png 769w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-1031x1180.png 1031w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report.png 1464w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 894px) 100vw, 894px" />
We can find these clues by looking at segments of DNA in your genome, comparing those segments to reference populations from Europe, Asia, the Americas, Oceania, the Middle East and Africa.
Traditionally, our Ancestry Composition report compared customers’ data to 31 different populations, allowing 23andMe to report the percentage of DNA that came from those regions. This helped connect individuals to their ancestry back 500 years before the advent of modern migration.
With this new update, we still make those estimates but add another layer of insights with clues to the location of much more recent ancestors. We can do this by looking for exact DNA matches between a customer and over 130,000 individuals of known ancestry from 120 regions across the globe. 
<h6>Recent Ancestors</h6>
If a person exactly matches with five or more individuals from one of those specific regions, that region is assigned as a &#8220;recent ancestor location.&#8221; We also report the “strength&#8221; of the match. This is determined by how much DNA a customer shares with people from that region, adjusted by how many people are in the reference population.

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We’re excited to roll out this update to an already incredibly powerful interactive tool for <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">exploring your ancestry</a>. Beyond dramatically increasing the number of regions, the update also includes improvements to the map. In addition it improve the experience of panning and zooming into the geographic regions you are linked to through your DNA. We’ve also relabeled some of the populations for accuracy and better understanding. For example Yakut has been relabeled as Siberian. Taken together, these changes to 23andMe’s Ancestry Composition report provide a better way to visualize your ancestry. As with all the features and reports we offer customers, this one includes details on the science behind the tool so they know how these estimates are made. 
 

<h6>The Human Story</h6>
Beyond what Ancestry Composition offers, we also have additional ancestry-related tools that are unique to the 23andMe experience. And those tools connect you to the broader human story and its deep history. 
These include the first-ever Neanderthal Ancestry report and 23andMe’s maternal and paternal haplogroup reports. The Neanderthal Ancestry report offers you another way to bring your own connection to the human story. It shows you how your own DNA includes tiny fragments of DNA from Neanderthals, our ancient human cousins. 
23andMe’s haplogroup reports connect you to your haplogroups, different lineages that descended from a common ancient ancestor. As our ancestors ventured out of Africa, they branched off in diverse groups that crossed and recrossed the globe over tens of thousands of years. Your connections to those ancient migrations can be traced by looking at your haplogroups. 23andMe’s haplogroup reports give you insight into these ancient ancestors. Together these two reports connect you to your deep ancestry, showing you how you connect with groups of people who migrated across the globe over millenia.
 

The update to our Ancestry Composition feature is another example of how much more you can learn by exploring your own DNA. New customers who purchased our Ancestry Service kit as of February 28th will see this new update when they get their results. We’ve been gradually rolling out the update to existing customers. All customers will begin seeing this 23andMe Ancestry Composition update in the coming months.
 

<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Check it out</a>.
 
*<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/#toc-ancestry-composition">23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition</a> update with 120 additional regions will be coming soon to all 23andMe customers.
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<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">List of Regions and Countries Included in this Ancestry Composition Update</h5>
European
British &amp; Irish
<ul>
<li>Ireland</li>
<li>United Kingdom</li>
</ul>
French &amp; German
<ul>
<li>Austria</li>
<li>Belgium</li>
<li>France</li>
<li>Germany</li>
<li>Luxembourg</li>
<li>Netherlands</li>
<li>Switzerland</li>
</ul>
Scandinavian
<ul>
<li>Denmark</li>
<li>Iceland</li>
<li>Norway</li>
<li>Sweden</li>
</ul>
Ashkenazi Jewish
Sardinian
Italian
<ul>
<li>Italy</li>
<li>Malta</li>
</ul>
Iberian
<ul>
<li>Portugal</li>
<li>Spain</li>
</ul>
Balkan
<ul>
<li>Albania</li>
<li>Bosnia and Herzegovina</li>
<li>Bulgaria</li>
<li>Croatia</li>
<li>Greece</li>
<li>Macedonia</li>
<li>Moldova</li>
<li>Montenegro</li>
<li>Romania</li>
<li>Serbia</li>
</ul>
Finnish
Eastern European
<ul>
<li>Belarus</li>
<li>Czech Republic</li>
<li>Estonia</li>
<li>Hungary</li>
<li>Latvia</li>
<li>Lithuania</li>
<li>Poland</li>
<li>Russia</li>
<li>Slovakia</li>
<li>Slovenia</li>
<li>Ukraine</li>
</ul>
Broadly Northwestern European
Broadly Southern European
Broadly European
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
East Asian &amp; Native American
Japanese
Korean
<ul>
<li>North Korea</li>
<li>South Korea</li>
</ul>
Siberian
Manchurian &amp; Mongolian
<ul>
<li>Mongolia</li>
<li>Kazakhstan</li>
<li>Kyrgyzstan</li>
</ul>
Chinese
<ul>
<li>Hong Kong</li>
<li>Mainland China</li>
<li>Taiwan</li>
</ul>
Southeast Asian
<ul>
<li>Cambodia</li>
<li>Guam</li>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Laos</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
<li>Myanmar</li>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>Singapore</li>
<li>Thailand</li>
<li>Vietnam</li>
</ul>
Native American
<ul>
<li>Argentina</li>
<li>Aruba</li>
<li>Belize</li>
<li>Bolivia</li>
<li>Brazil</li>
<li>Chile</li>
<li>Colombia</li>
<li>Costa Rica</li>
<li>Cuba</li>
<li>Dominican Republic</li>
<li>Ecuador</li>
<li>El Salvador</li>
<li>Guatemala</li>
<li>Honduras</li>
<li>Mexico</li>
<li>Nicaragua</li>
<li>Panama</li>
<li>Paraguay</li>
<li>Peru</li>
<li>Puerto Rico</li>
<li>Uruguay</li>
<li>Venezuela</li>
</ul>
Broadly East Asian
Broadly East Asian &amp; Native American
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Western Asian &amp; North African
North African &amp; Arabian
<ul>
<li>Algeria</li>
<li>Bahrain</li>
<li>Egypt</li>
<li>Jordan</li>
<li>Kuwait</li>
<li>Libya</li>
<li>Morocco</li>
<li>Saudi Arabia</li>
<li>Tunisia</li>
<li>United Arab Emirates</li>
<li>Yemen</li>
</ul>
Western Asian
<ul>
<li>Armenia</li>
<li>Azerbaijan</li>
<li>Cyprus</li>
<li>Georgia</li>
<li>Iran</li>
<li>Iraq</li>
<li>Lebanon</li>
<li>Syria</li>
<li>Turkey</li>
<li>Uzbekistan</li>
</ul>
Broadly Western Asian &amp; North African
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Sub-Saharan African
West African
<ul>
<li>Cabo Verde</li>
<li>Cameroon</li>
<li>Ghana</li>
<li>Liberia</li>
<li>Nigeria</li>
</ul>
East African
<ul>
<li>Eritrea</li>
<li>Ethiopia</li>
<li>Kenya</li>
<li>Somalia</li>
<li>Sudan</li>
</ul>
African Hunter-Gatherer
Broadly Sub-Saharan African
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
South Asian
Broadly South Asian
<ul>
<li>Afghanistan</li>
<li>Bangladesh</li>
<li>India</li>
<li>Mauritius</li>
<li>Nepal</li>
<li>Pakistan</li>
<li>Sri Lanka</li>
</ul>
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Melanesian
Broadly Melanesian
<ul>
<li>American Samoa</li>
<li>Fiji</li>
<li>Samoa</li>
<li>Tonga</li>
</ul>
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>

23andMe Expands Ancestry Composition

A remarkable aspect of 23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition feature is that the innovative machine learning technology under the hood gets better and more precise as we add new customers and refine our technology.
We&#8217;ve been revving that machine up lately, so this week some customers who have tested on our latest genotyping chip will start to see more precise detail in their<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/"> Ancestry Composition</a> results.
What’s happening here reflects both changes to our genotyping chip and our ever-increasing numbers of new customers. These new customers enabled us to “retrain” the machine learning algorithm and improve the accuracy and specificity of ancestry assignments we report. So now, for example, a customer with a percentage of their Ancestry Composition previously designated as “Broadly European,” may now see some of this ancestry assigned as &#8220;French or German.&#8221;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/24936289936_507c63c5e3_o-1024x647.png" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25829" width="1024" height="647" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/24936289936_507c63c5e3_o-1024x647.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/24936289936_507c63c5e3_o-300x190.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/24936289936_507c63c5e3_o-768x485.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/24936289936_507c63c5e3_o-880x556.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/24936289936_507c63c5e3_o-1180x746.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
These changes improve an already fantastic feature by boosting precision and recall for many ancestral populations. Customers interested in their <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-and-you/23andme-how-to/meet-your-chromosome-painting/">Chromosome Paintings</a> may also notice improvements due to our use of an updated &#8220;phasing&#8221; algorithm. 
These changes will also help set the table for 23andMe to begin to add additional reference populations in the coming months. These, in turn, will also improve results for customers. 
Currently, we use 24 reference populations from around the world to report 31 population labels, including higher-order groupings. Adding new populations will allow 23andMe to offer more details to customers. That was in part what motivated our researchers to launch the <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/the-african-genetics-project/">African Genetics Project</a> last year. By adding new African reference populations, we will be able to return more precise results to customers with African ancestry. We plan to do similar work with other understudied populations around the world.
Changes to our genotyping chip will also help with this work. 23andMe periodically updates the chip we use for genotyping. We do this to take advantage of improvements in technology, to update the kind of information we can offer customers, and to offer flexibility for future research. This newest chip — our fifth version, hence the name v5 — is an Illumina<a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.illumina.com%2Fglobalscreeningarray&#038;esheet=51363623&#038;newsitemid=20160616005665&#038;lan=en-US&#038;anchor=Infinium%C2%AE+Global+Screening+Array&#038;index=2&#038;md5=29b7081699c1fde5cc84559e32a3ca42"> Infinium® Global Screening Array</a> supplemented with ~50,000 SNPs of custom content. This array was specifically designed to better capture global genetic diversity and to help standardize the platform for genetic research.
Ancestry Composition is a great tool that promises to keep getting better, so if you haven’t had a look lately <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">check it out</a>. You can read more about the science behind all this by looking at this white paper on<a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry-composition-guide/"> Ancestry Composition</a>.

23andMe revs up Ancestry Composition feature

Like moving to the top of a ridge to suddenly see the landscape anew, Bob Hutchinson’s 23andMe gave him a new view of himself, of his family history and even of the world around him.
<div id="attachment_25693" style="width: 243px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25693" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dd64ff48-353c-45ec-9144-586d6b79c45f-11-233x300.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-25693" width="233" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dd64ff48-353c-45ec-9144-586d6b79c45f-11-233x300.jpg 233w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dd64ff48-353c-45ec-9144-586d6b79c45f-11.jpg 359w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 233px) 100vw, 233px" />Bob Hutchinson&#8217;s parents.</div>
“It was a surprise,” Bob told the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/science/dna-tests-ancestry.html?_r=0"> New York Times</a> recently.
His story was featured both in the paper and online in a weekly<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/nytimes/videos/?ref=page_internal"> Facebook Live</a> episode called “Conversations on Race.”
Bob grew up in northern New Jersey, thinking his family was white with Swedish and Italian ancestry. But using 23andMe told him something else. His <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Ancestry Composition</a> showed that he is in fact more than an eighth sub-Saharan African.
“I think it’s great, it’s who I am,” Bob said during his live conversation with Times reporter Rachel Swarms. “It’s great to be so mixed.”
The surprised revealed as secret about his family, helping him connect with cousins he didn’t know he had, but who knew who he was, about his family and about the family secret.
Check out his story in the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/science/dna-tests-ancestry.html?_r=0"> New York Times</a>, or watch the<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/nytimes/videos/?ref=page_internal"> recorded conversation</a>.

DNA Testing Helps Reveal Hidden Family History

We are all 100 percent human.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-300x300.png" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-25658 size-medium" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-768x768.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-880x880.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-574x574.png 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB-980x980.png 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AllHuman_FB.png 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The DNA that 23andMe empowers customers to explore is fascinating not because we are so different but rather because we are so similar — 99.5 percent the same.
Any two of us can find a common ancestor. Many of us can find relatives around the world that connect us to people and cultures we never before experienced. It is only the tiny fraction of our DNA — the 0.5 percent — that is different and leads to the amazing variety and talent in the world.
23andMe condemns all forms of racism, including people who are using genetic testing to advance hate-based dogma. If we see it on our site, we ban it and close the offenders’ accounts. These individuals, who use their data in this way, are missing the fundamental point that their DNA is connected to the world and everyone on it.
There is no superior DNA;  we are all from the same common ancestors and we share the same building blocks of life.
We are all 100 percent human.
&nbsp;

<div style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Here are some answers to questions on this issue:
• How does 23andMe moderate its forums for hate speech?
We do not tolerate hate speech and other forms of abuse on our forums, blog and messaging applications within the 23andMe product. 23andMe’s customer care team moderates these 23andMe-specific channels, along with a team that monitors our social media profiles. If we identify hate speech or any other abuse of 23andMe-specific channels, we remove those comments and ban the users. If we identify inappropriate comments on our social profiles we remove those wherever possible.</div>
<div style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">• Have you kicked any white supremacist customers off your forums, or taken any other action against them?</div>
<div style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">We have banned people from our forums and from commenting on our blog. These bans were based on inappropriate comments and forum behavior, but we have not had a case that specifically involved a white supremacist. 
We condemn racism in all forms. We consistently promote a message of inclusion, and we believe our service has the power to change minds. Our hope is all individuals see our test as an opportunity to learn more about themselves, and also understand we are more alike than different. In fact science tells us we’re 99.5% genetically identical.
</div>

Ancestry Composition — Page 4