Geno 2.0 misclassifies yDNA A into other haplogroups?

[lgmayka]

If you log into a Geno 2.0 account (on the National Geographic web site) and go to the All Stories page (https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/results/ourstory/allstories), you will see that there is not a single entry for yDNA A. The listing begins with 209 entries of mtDNA A, then goes right into B. I am afraid that Geno 2.0 is misclassifying all members of yDNA A into other haplogroups--a shocking bug, especially after all this time.

The specific case brought to my attention was kit N114522 in the R1a1a and Subclades Project (https://www.familytreedna.com/public/r1a/default.aspx?section=ysnp), who is correctly classified (by both SNPs and STRs) as A-V25 or A1a. I initially presumed that he had joined the project by mistake, but learned otherwise: He joined because Geno 2.0 had (mis)classified him as R-L448. I was afraid that perhaps the wrong Geno sample had been transferred to FTDNA, but he confirmed that Geno and FTDNA agree on his rare mtDNA haplogroup classification, L1b1a3a; so the sample transfer is almost certainly correct. I then noticed that Geno 2.0 doesn't have any yDNA A entries at all.

I feel bad for those who paid good money for Geno 2.0, then were assigned to a totally incorrect and misleading haplogroup. In particular, those customers who hoped and expected Geno 2.0 to verify their African patrilineage were instead falsely told of European introgression.

[cmorley]

I haven't looked at Geno 2.0 data in several months, but, at that time at least, there were only a couple of publicly available Geno 2.0 results for haplogroup A.

Is is not conceivable that the group of paying haplogroup A customers is small, and that some of these were correctly classified on the Geno website, but chose not to submit anything to the "My Story" page?

If you are arguing that the Genographic project's classifications would benefit from a second opinion, I wholeheartedly agree. But I think the argument is stronger if your example is the L566+ kits misclassified as R1a. I reported that issue in October.

[lgmayka]

Is is not conceivable that the group of paying haplogroup A customers is small, and that some of these were correctly classified on the Geno website, but chose not to submit anything to the "My Story" page?
It is pretty clear that they misclassified kit N114522. It is difficult to know how many other members of yDNA A may be misclassified, or where they may have ended up.

[cmorley]

It is pretty clear that they misclassified kit N114522. It is difficult to know how many other members of yDNA A may be misclassified, or where they may have ended up.

I haven't seen the full Geno dataset, so I can't disagree to that. But of the data I've seen, my own software only places a few kits in haplogroup A.

[This post was originally in response to an example posted by lgmayka, which has since been removed.]

[phoenix]

My Dad did Geno 2.0 test and is an African American. His ydna results were shown as R-L21. I have transferred his results to FTDNA but not yet expanded testing. His kit number is N125192 and he is part of the R-L21 project. I am looking at doing the Y-67 STR testing for him.

Can you look at his raw files and see if he is misclassfied? Based on oral family history, the R-L21 result is not surprising. Or is there a SNP test that would confirm the R-L21 that I can order a la carte?

[lgmayka]

Can you look at his raw files and see if he is misclassfied? Based on oral family history, the R-L21 result is not surprising.
I found his SNP results in this project (https://www.familytreedna.com/public/R1b-L159.2/default.aspx?section=ysnp). According to Morley's predictor, they indeed fall into R-L21.

[phoenix]

Great, thanks.