Family Tree DNA summer sale

Family Tree DNA have announced their sizzling summer sale which runs until 25th June. The following tests are reduced for the duration of the sale:

- Y-DNA 37 for US $119 (£82) (Regular price would be $149 (£103) )

- Y-DNA 67 for US $199 (£138) (Regular price would be $239 (£166) )

- Y-DNA 37 + mtDNA for US $159 (£110) (Combined test would cost $238 (£164) )
- Y-DNA37 + mtDNAPlus for $189.00 (£127) (Combined test would cost US $269 (£191) )

To qualify for the sale prices kits need to be paid for by 30th June, 2010.

To see prices in other currencies you can use one of the many online currency converters such as the XE Universal Currency Converter.

If you have any family or friends who are interested in DNA testing you might like to tell them about the sale, and perhaps we might find a few more U4s too!

The special prices are only available for kits ordered through projects. There are now almost 6,000 projects at Family Tree DNA, and a full alphabetical list of projects can be found here. Even if there is no project for your surname it is usually possible to find a suitable geographical project. We have put together a list of the geographical projects which are of most relevance to U4s on the U4 project website.

If you are not familiar with the different types of DNA tests you might like to read Debbie Kennett's brief article which was published in the Berkshire Family Historian and which can now be found online here. In the meantime if you have any questions do get in touch.

FTDNA Participant Maternal Origin

Here are a few charts showing participant maternal country of origin.

First a fancy Pie Chart

Next the same data but a Bar Chart.     Its a little Easier to read.

We have over 300 members in the project, 185 participants have filled in this data.

Remember these are recent countries of origin, not ancient. England comes out ahead with 37 members, Germany 34, Ireland 24 and Poland 12. The rest are pretty low, and I assume the data is a little skewed reflecting a larger number of people testing in Western Europe than Eastern Europe but I was surprised that Germany had so many.

mtDNA Video

More on The DNA Trail

We wrote in an earlier post about The DNA Trail, a series of plays on the subject of DNA which will open in Chicago at the beginning of March. U4 project member Lina Patel, an actress and playwright, wrote one of the plays. She describes her experiences in a new article by journalist Howard Wolinksy which you can read here. You can find out more about the play and see the videos of Lina and the other playwrights talking about the process here. We wish Lina luck with the venture, and we shall look forward to hearing more about the plays in due course.

U mtDNA found in Ancient European

No mention of U4, but still quite interesting for U's in general.


"Scientists have analysed DNA extracted from the remains of a 30,000-year-old European hunter-gatherer."





Link:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8435317.stm