Update to NIST - GATA H4
- By: DNAHeritage
- On: 10/06/2009 16:10:55
- In: General
All results released after 1st October 2009 follow NIST nomenclature guidelines.
For DNA Heritage customers, this has meant a REDUCTION of repeat values for the GATA H4 marker. Effective immediately, the marker values have been reduced by 10.
All results released after 1st October 2009 follow NIST nomenclature guidelines.For DNA Heritage customers, this has meant a REDUCTION of repeat values for the GATA H4 marker. Effective immediately, the marker values have been reduced by 10.
For DNA Heritage customers, this has meant a REDUCTION of repeat values for the GATA H4 marker. Effective immediately, the marker values have been reduced by 10.
The marker name is altered from GATA H4.1 to GATA H4, although most users won't see a difference.
Being NIST-compliant extends the usefulness of your results as you are able to more easily compare with individuals and groups. All companies generating results were contacted regarding the changes so that industry-wide changes could be made around the same date, yet not all have chosen compliance. Currently, results from DNA Heritage, SMGF, Ancestry, Genetree and Ethnoancestry are in compliance on all of the markers that they report.
If you have results from a DIFFERENT company, you will need to login to your online account for your most recent values. A comparison and conversion can be made using the table at http://www.smgf.org (note that this is maintained externally but provides a central location for comparisons). If in doubt, please verify with the test company what changes need to be made to be NIST-compliant.
A central document of past changes for DNA Heritage customers is maintained here
More information can be read via this document by NIST.
Why NIST? The US National Institute of Science and Technology provides standard reference materials. Although it is not an international body, with regard to DNA testing and STR markers, it has continued to monitor and make recommendations. Standard Reference Materials exist which are purchasable by any lab wishing to verify their results with known results. Note that not all of the markers currently available on the market are covered by NIST recommendations, although all 43-markers in our own panels (and shared by SMGF, Ancestry and Genetree) are covered. NIST have made a commitment to monitor additional markers as demand necessitates.
