A review of My Evil Twin

There are two new utilities added to the tier one level for Gedmatch. I have tried both, but for now, I want to talk about the My Evil Twin utility. Basically, it is a way to take your kit, compare it with a parent, and create a phased kit of the DNA you didn't get. Since I have tested both of my parents, I was able to make phased kits for the DNA I didn't get from each parent. After batch processing, I am able to look at the one to many matches for each kit.

I don't know that this utility is necessary, but if you are like me, and are curious about the way DNA is passed and the randomness of it all. It's a pretty cool tool. It would probably be easier to in fact compare the evil twin kits directly with a phased kit for each parent, but I never bothered with that. Since I have tested both parents, I rarely even look at my own matches. I just go straight to the source.

It is interesting to see the DNA I don't share with my top matches, especially those that I share a lot with on my real matches, and those I share a lot with on my evil twin. I think with time, and probably genome mate, I may be able to look at some patterns, and figure out really a bit more of the DNA I didn't get, because at this point, I have a pretty good fix when comparing my kit with my parents and my daughters on the DNA we seem to have a higher degree of. 

I was even able to do an admixture on the phased kit. Now that was interesting, because of the native DNA I didn't get from my mom was visible in the admixture. I may play around a bit more with that function and see what I get from the different admixture tools, but in my world of curiosity with DNA, now, that is right up my alley. I may do my daughter's evil twin too, just to look at the admixture differences.

The other Beta utility, Triangulation Groups, will probably be way more beneficial for my use of time, but, given my fascination with how DNA is passed, I think that my Evil Twin just may satisfy some of my curiosity in a totally unexpected way.

So if you are on Gedmatch, consider donating and become a tier one member. If you aren't on Gedmatch, and you have tested your DNA, you really should consider joining. Remember it is free to use, it's a great place to fully get something out of the DNA if you used Ancestry for your tests, and it allows you to compare across companies. And if you still haven't tested your DNA, what in the heck are you waiting for?