In my previous post, The amazing power of Y-DNA, I stated the following:
In November 2017, Family Tree Dna announced that in 2018 they would be including about 500 STRs, in addition to the SNPs, in Big Y results. These would not just be for new Big Y testers; anyone who had ever taken a Big Y will see them. There will be no additional charge for these new STRs. While there is no expected date, it is obvious that the "Y500" is now in the pipeline.
Well, the Big Y500 results have arrived, and it's stunning.
STRs now included in Big Y500 test!
When you log into your Family Tree DNA account, instead of seeing a section called Big Y you will now see a section called Big Y500:
The link to Y-STR Results is new. If your Y-STR results are still in process, you will see this at the bottom of your list:
But if they have been completed, you will see a screen that caused me to gasp with shock. Here's the entire screen:
Here is a close up of a portion of it:
On your dashboard, you will still see the section for Y-DNA results. Notice that "Y-STR Results" appears in both the Y-DNA section and the Big Y section.
In the Y-DNA section, when you click Y-STR results you will see the same massive list you saw in the Big Y500 section. However, when you click Matches, your list has not changed. You will see matches for the first 111 markers.
We don't yet know when we will see a list of matches for the Y500 STRs, but it is clear that Family Tree Dna came through on their promise to provide these additional markers. The best part is that previous Big Y testers didn't have to pay any additional fee to get these. These new STRs will appear at no cost in the results of anyone who has already taken the Big Y test, but the cost of new Big Y500 tests has gone up significantly because it is now a combination of the previous Big Y test and a huge STR test. I can't wait to see what we can do with all this new Big Y500 data.
The title of one of my blog posts was, "The Big Y could be the best DNA test ever!" I feel even more strongly about that now.
