FamilyTreeDNA
FamilyTreeDNA is a division of Gene by Gene, a commercial genetic testing company based in Houston, Texas. FamilyTreeDNA offers analysis of autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and mitochondrial DNA to individuals for genealogical purpose. With a database of more than two million records, it is the most popular company worldwide for Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA, and the fourth most popular for autosomal DNA. In Europe, it is the most common also for autosomal DNA. FamilyTreeDNA as a division of Gene by Gene were acquired by MYDNA, Inc., an Australian company, in January 2021.
History
Concept and founding (2000–2002)
FamilyTreeDNA was founded based on an idea conceived by Bennett Greenspan, a lifelong entrepreneur and genealogy enthusiast. In 1999, Greenspan had entered semi-retirement and was working on his family history. He began work on his mother's Nitz lineage. When faced with a roadblock in his work, he remembered two cases of genetics being used to prove ancestry that had recently been covered by the media. These were a study by University of Arizona researchers showing that many Cohen men from both Ashkenazic and Sephardic groups share the same Y-chromosome and a study that showed that male descendants of a paternal uncle of US President Thomas Jefferson and male-line descendants of his freed slave Sally Hemings shared the same Y-chromosome and a recent common ancestry.Greenspan had both Nitz cousins in California and had discovered someone in Argentina with the same ancestral surname and the same ancestral location in Eastern Europe. Wishing to use the same method of DNA comparison for his own genealogy, he contacted Dr. Michael Hammer at the University of Arizona. Greenspan discovered that academic labs did not offer testing directly to the public and that in general direct to consumer testing for genealogy was not commercially available either. Their conversation inspired him to start a company dedicated to using genetics to help solve genealogy mysteries.
It was early 2000 when Greenspan with his business partners Max Blankfeld and Jim Warren officially launched FamilyTreeDNA. Initially, the Arizona Research Labs at the University of Arizona performed all testing for FamilyTreeDNA. FamilyTreeDNA includes among its scientific staff, Dr. Michael Hammer, one of a team of scientists that first published on the Cohen Modal Haplotype in 1997 in the journal Nature.
FamilyTreeDNA began with a proof in concept group of twenty-four tests that returned results in January. The company began by offering 12 STR marker Y-chromosome tests much like those used in many scientific publications of the time in March 2000. FamilyTreeDNA became widely known for its Y-chromosome STR testing for the Cohen Modal Haplotype.
They added an interface by which genealogists could run surname research studies. The first person to create such a project through the FamilyTreeDNA site was Doug Mumma, who founded the Mumma project. Such projects can also focus on specific regions and niche populations.
Early testing (2000–2006)
The first tests offered by FamilyTreeDNA were Y-chromosome STR and mitochondrial DNA tests like those used by published academic studies at the time.FamilyTreeDNA's initial Y-chromosome tests were described as 11 marker tests. They eventually began to call this a 12 STR marker test as one of the STRS almost always had two copies. This they billed as a method to affirm or disprove a genealogical connection on the direct paternal line.
FamilyTreeDNA's first mtDNA tests were for HVR1 of the mtDNA. Eventually, they added a Plus test that tested for both HVR1 and HVR2.
In the early days, they did not confirm haplogroups for either mtDNA or Y-DNA.
Opening of the Genomics Research Center
In 2006, FamilyTreeDNA bought out the assets of DNA-Fingerprint, which was a German paternity testing company that offered à la carte testing to the genetic genealogy testing community. With this buyout, Thomas and Astrid Krahn, who had owned DNA-Fingerprint, moved to Houston, Texas, and helped open the Genomics Research Center.The Genomics Research Center initially did testing for many of the same products that had been sold by DNA-Fingerprint. They began to offer individual and panels of Y-chromosome SNP tests using Sanger testing methods. They also offered the mtDNA full genome test and upgrades to it using the Sanger testing method.
Soon came the launch of the Walk Through the Y test. The WTY test offered the most adventurous of citizen scientists the chance to seek the discovery of new Y-chromosome SNPs.
Meanwhile, most testing continued to be done at the University of Arizona lab. The demand for additional test types led Greenspan and Blankfeld to move all testing to their own testing lab in Houston, Texas under the Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd. parent company.
Partnerships
Between 2007 and 2010, FamilyTreeDNA forged several new partnerships that allowed them to access additional international markets.iGENEA
The first of FamilyTreeDNA's new partnerships was with the Switzerland-based iGENEA company. It was formed alongside the closing of DNA-Fingerprint and Thomas Krahn's helping open the Genomic Research Center in Houston. Their website is available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
African DNA
In late 2007, Henry Louis Gates created African DNA in partnership with FamilyTreeDNA to help promote genetic testing for personal ancestry among African Americans.
DNA Ancestry & Family Origin
DNA Ancestry & Family Origin is a genetic genealogy testing partnership between FamilyTreeDNA and Eastern Biotech & Life Sciences. Their website is available in both English and Arabic.
MyHeritage
In November 2008, a dynamic partnership with MyHeritage was launched, allowing users to incorporate DNA testing and advanced family tree technologies into their family history research. MyHeritage is a website offering online, mobile and software platforms for discovering, preserving and sharing family history worldwide.
Acquisition by MYDNA, Inc. (2021)
In January 2021 it was announced that MYDNA, Inc. a Melbourne, Australia, genomics company, had acquired Family Tree DNA and its parent company Gene by Gene. MYDNA, Inc has historically specialized in pharmacogenomics and nutrigenomics. Dr Lior Rauchberger commenced his role as CEO of MYDNA, Inc immediately. While Gene by Gene co-founders Bennett Greenspan and Max Blankfeld joined the MYDNA, Inc Board of Directors.DNA testing products
Services provided by FamilyTreeDNA are made in own laboratory meeting CLIA and CAP standards and they are based on various biotechnology products, including for example sequencing platform NovaSeq by Illumina, Inc.Autosomal DNA testing
In May 2010, FamilyTreeDNA launched an autosomal microarray chip based DNA test. They called the new product Family Finder. The initial product used an Affymetrix microarray chip, but FamilyTreeDNA changed to the Illumina OmniExpress chip and retested all customers who had results from the Affymetrix chip for forward compatibility.Family Finder allows customers to match relatives as distant as about fifth cousins. Family Finder also includes a component called myOrigins. The results of this test provide percentages of a DNA associated with general regions or specific ethnic groups. Notably, unlike other testing companies, they chose to strip out markers for mendelian medical issues, mtDNA results, and Y-DNA SNP results.
Y-DNA testing
The company markets a range of Y-DNA tests. The Y-chromosome is inherited from father to son, so testers can discover relatives with the same patrilineage. In many cultures these relatives will often share the same surname, since surnames are also inherited father to son. These tests cover 37-111 STR markers depending on the test, and vary in price according to the number of markers covered. FTDNA introduced their "Big Y" test in 2013. Big Y tests approximately 15 million locations on the Y chromosome, looking for novel and shared SNPs. By the end of 2021, FTDNA had identified over 50,000 branches in the tree of all Y-DNA results.mtDNA testing
FamilyTreeDNA also sells mtDNA testing, offering the choice of either a limited hypervariable region test, or a full sequence test of the entire mitochondrial DNA chromosome.In February 2025 the new mitoTree was introduced. It uses the contribution of all the FamilyTreeDNA mtDNA testers and the development of the previous Phylotree from 2016 is considerable.