Ancestry®, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, today unveiled SideView™ technology, a first-of-its-kind scientific innovation that separates DNA into parental sides giving AncestryDNA® customers new insights into which side of the family they inherited their genetics from. With more than 20 million people in its growing consumer DNA network, Ancestry is the first company to be able to provide this type of genomic information without requiring a parent to be tested.
Phasing or understanding genetic inheritance without having genetic samples of an individual’s parents is a problem that scientists have been trying to solve for decades. Now with SideView™ technology, Ancestry can phase a customer’s entire genome into parental sides using the DNA they share with relatives in the AncestryDNA database - their DNA matches - to provide an even greater level of detail for genomic discoveries. Grouping of matches is the first critical step in phasing DNA using SideView™ technology. SideView™ technology groups matches with a precision rate of 95% for 90% of AncestryDNA customers thanks to the size and statistical power of the AncestryDNA match network.
This process enables ethnicity inheritance - the newest AncestryDNA feature being powered by SideView™, which informs a customer which side of the family they received each of their estimated ethnicities from.
Understanding ethnicity and community inheritance in more detail has been the number one request from Ancestry customers for years. In fact, in a recent survey, we learned that one in three people don’t feel knowledgeable about their family history and origins and want to learn more. With our new SideView™ technology, we can now tell customers with great confidence from which side of the family they received their ethnicities and in the future, we’ll also be able to tell them which communities and DNA matches are from each side of the family.
Brian Donnelly, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AncestryDNA at Ancestry
In the future, SideView™ will enable AncestryDNA customers to view DNA matches by parental side, see community and ancestral journey patterns for each parental side, and learn more about inherited DNA. By developing SideView™ technology, Ancestry is helping customers gain a more comprehensive understanding of their DNA results and their own family history.
Ethnicity inheritance, powered by SideView™ technology, is available now for all AncestryDNA customers. You can purchase an AncestryDNA kit by visiting www.ancestry.com.
For more information on Sideview™ technology, you can read our recent publication HERE.
Source: Ancestry