Is it possible that some portion of your ancestry is not shown in your DNA?

[Rainn]

Is it possible that some portion of your ancestry is not shown in your DNA? For example a person is 1/4 Gypsy in origin but neither commercial tests, GEDMATCH, nor Vahaduo indicate any Gypsy ancestry. Is it possible?

[JosephK]

Is it possible that some portion of your ancestry is not shown in your DNA? For example a person is 1/4 Gypsy in origin but neither commercial tests, GEDMATCH, nor Vahaduo indicate any Gypsy ancestry. Is it possible?

Funny you should ask that.

Yes, it's very possible, especially considering ethnicities that are "mixed," that don't have a specific 'signature'. My wife is 1/4 Italian, southern Italian (grandfather from Calbria), but this is rarely recognized (and only recently) in the commercial tests. I think once a person is mixed enough, say four grandparents, each of a different ethnicity, it's really difficult for a genetic test to estimate heritage, unless enough of the ancestors were very "average" for their respective ethnicity.

[Roy]

Yes it is possible. Also there is a possible scenario when that said ancestor was adopted.

[JosephK]

Since you mentioned "Gypsy" specifically, my own experience is similar to my wife's, in that it is clear that I haven't inherited a lot of the South Asian DNA expected of someone with a recent Roma ancestor (it also depends on how one defines "Gypsy", as there are communities with less substantial South Asian than others). So our initial commercial test results would classify me as a quarter Italian or Spanish, much to the chagrin of my wife who was never recognized as part Italian--because I've inherited more MENA than South Asian, many calculators don't pick up Gypsy, but rather something Mediterranean.