DNA databases

There are a number of public DNA databases. Some provide a facility for people to enter their DNA results and search for close or exact matches. Other databases are publicly searchable but it is not possible to input your own results.

List of DNA databases

• GenBank, a public database of DNA sequences. Genetic genealogists who have taken a full mitochondrial sequence (FMS) mitochondrial DNA test can upload their FMS results for comparison with other sequences.
• Mitosearch is a public mtDNA database sponsored by Family Tree DNA.
• mtDNACommunity A public database of full mitochondrial sequence DNA results.
• Open SNP A public database of genotyping files uploaded by customers of direct-to-consumer testing companies. The database includes files from 23andMe, DeCODE genetics and FTDNA's Family Finder test
• Semargle.me A Russian website with a variety of searching mechanisms for querying large databases such as Ysearch and Family Tree DNA
• SMGF Y-DNA database The Y-DNA database of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation
• SMGF mtdna database The mtDNA database of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation
• Ybase, a public Y-DNA database sponsored by DNA Heritage. The domain name was purchased by Family Tree DNA when it acquired DNA Heritage in 2011. The database is now offline and it is not known if FTDNA have any plans to resurrect it.
• Y-search, a public Y-DNA database sponsored by Family Tree DNA.
• YHRD, a freely accessible YHRD (Y Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database, www.yhrd.org) is designed to store Y chromosome haplotypes from global populations for both forensic genetics and genetic genealogy.
  

Ysearch tips

• If you are NOT the Administrator of a project, and you want to make contact with a participant, use the link http://www.ysearch.org/search_start.asp?providerkey= and add the FTDNA Kit Number. This will show you the Ysearch ID of the participant. From this you can view the participant's record including his name and you then have the facility to contact the participant through the Ysearch messaging system.
• If you are an FTDNA project administrator you can see whether or not the members of your project have a Ysearch account by going to the "Paternal Ancestry" page. If you hover your cursor over the Ysearch icon for a member, then on the Status Bar of your browser you will see the Ysearch UserID at the end of the URL. Obviously, you need to have the Status Bar in your browser turned on. If the Ysearch icon for a member is 'greyed out', he has not transferred his results to Ysearch.

Database tools

• A tool for searching the SMGF Y-DNA database in FTDNA order and convention

Further reading

• Alessandra Congiu, Paolo Anagnostou, Nicola Milia, Marco Capocasa, Francesco Montinaro and Giovanni Destro Bisol. Online databases for mtDNA and Y chromosome polymorphisms in human populations. Journal of Anthropological Sciences Vol. 90 (2012), pp. 1-15.