ARTICLE #016

Endogamy and 5 Tips for DNA Test

20201-07-26 Ellie

(https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog/2020/5/28/endogamy-dna-test-jewish)

The DNA test is a great tool for learning more about your family. However, it is important to remember
that genetic testing can also be used for unethical purposes, such as paternity testing and ancestry
analysis. You should always be aware of the laws regarding DNA tests before you get one done.

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Endogamy is the marriage of two individuals within the same social group. It is a form of inbreeding
and creates strong social cohesion. This practice has been used in various parts of the world often by
religious groups or with an emphasis on family lineage. Throughout history and in various cultures,
endogamy has been driven by factors such as religion, poverty, and health concerns. In some areas,
it is still widely practiced today.

What is endogamy?
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Endogamy is the social practice of marrying someone who belongs to the same group or clan.
Endogamy can also be described as a marriage within one's own group, tribe, ethnic group, nation, or
race. Some believe that this has been done to keep some traditions intact and others still believe it is
to preserve bloodlines.

It was found that when endogamy occurs there tends to be a high frequency of inbreeding since the
people who marry are often closely related themselves. Inbreeding is when two individuals from the
same family marry and produce offspring with significantly higher risks of birth defects than children
born from unrelated parents.

How endogamy complicates DNA test results?

Endogamy decreases the number of DNA markers in a person that is shared with a third party.
Therefore, if the DNA test is being used to determine the percentage of the relationship between two
people, this can result in misleading results. This is why many people prefer to use family trees for
determining their kinship instead of testing their DNA directly to find out if there are any relatives.

Through endogamy, there is a negative correlation between the amount of DNA shared between two
individuals and the level of endogamy (often the more closely related you are to your spouse, the less
DNA you share)

This is a correlation that can be observed in many instances. For example, in one study it was found
that when an Ethiopian woman had children with her husband, they shared around 47% of their DNA
markers and 2% with their father. The Ethiopian woman and her father had only 0.3% of DNA markers
in common.

Although the Ethiopian woman is genetically more related to her father than her husband, the fact that
she and her husband are more closely related makes it appear that they are more closely related to
each other than the father and daughter are. This is due to endogamy.

5 Tips for Endogamy and DNA

Here are five keys to successfully using DNA to research your ancestor who belonged to an
endogamous community.

1. Know how your DNA testing company handles endogamy.

Each company has its own approach to using DNA in identifying endogamous communities. The key
is to know what your company does. Most companies group people who share the same surnames
and/or geographic location for matching purposes. People from these groups will be more likely to
match each other than people from different groups whose surnames are not similar or live in different
geographic regions. In addition, some companies offer enhanced matching when names are similar,
such as Smith, Smyth, and Schmidt.

Most of the time, you share DNA with members of your community because you are both parts of that
community. We measure DNA in something called "centimorgan (cM)."(link to ART#171 "Genealogy
Glossary: Common DNA Terms Explained - MyHeritage Knowledge Base") Pieces that are 20
centimeters or larger are considered real, meaning they share DNA because of a shared recent
ancestor. Some companies are better than others and try to differentiate between “real” and “fake”
shared DNA before they present you with results. For more information, you can visit AncestryDNA
(link to ART#073 "AncestryDNA Ancestry DNA Testing Reviews") or MyHeritageDNA (link to
ART#027 "MyHeritage Matching)

2. Looking at DNA segment size can be very helpful.

Endogamy can lead to large segment matches, especially for people who share the same surname.
This occurs in the following way: Cousin relationships are usually identified by a match of 50 cMs or
more across an unbroken segment of DNA. By contrast, second cousin relationships result from a
match of 37-50 cMs across an unbroken segment of DNA. First cousin relationships occur when
people share 25-36 total cMs across an unbroken segment of DNA. If two cousins marry, they have a
60% chance of their offspring sharing 12.

3. Be cautious with the Shared Matches tool.

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Shared Matches tool (link to ART#286 "Ancestry Shared Matches – Nine Power Tips for your
Research – Data Mining DNA") estimates of how likely two people who belong to different
endogamous groups would match each other in DNA. When you choose the Shared Matches option
your estimate of this likelihood has a certain amount of uncertainty. This means that it is impossible to
know exactly how well two people from different endogamous groups will match each other, but your
estimate will be greater than 50%.

4. Try Y chromosome matches.

The Y chromosome has no recombination, unlike the autosomal DNA, and thus remains unbroken
over the generations. Thus, if two males belong to the same endogamic group and have a paper trail
documenting their ties, a DNA segment match on the Y chromosome may demonstrate first or second
cousin relationships between them — even if they share only 12 cMs of autosomal DNA. X
chromosome matches can also be used to prove a relationship, but if your X chromosome matches
are not also on the Y chromosome, you may not know whether they identify a relationship in the direct
paternal or maternal line.

5. Use DNA to verify traditional genealogical sources.

When you have good paper trails from multiple sources that link your two ancestors but no DNA, it is
time to consider DNA as a verifier before continuing to research the paper trail or making any changes
based on the results of genetic genealogy testing.

Although many believe that it is impossible to know the exact relationship of two cousins, DNA can be
a great tool for proving or disproving your relationships.

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In addition, the five tips given above can help you make sure that you are using DNA to its fullest
potential.

Using DNA to verify traditional genealogical sources rather than changing your paper trail is the best
use of this tool in genetic genealogy.