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Posts Tagged ‘Mitochondrial’

The mitochondrial DNA genealogy is the study of a person’s mother’s family line of maternal ancestors. This DNA is passed down from mother to each of her children exactly as she has it, with no mutations, except in the very rare instances.

Because of the traditions in our society of the wife taking her husband’s last name, a surname genealogy trace of the female line of the family tree is more difficult. On the flip side, since this DNA strand is more stable than the Y DNA, more conclusive results can be determined for the testing of it.

The mt-DNA is sometimes referred to as the Full Genomic Sequence (FGS). Since this DNA changes or mutates so rarely and slowly over time, a perfect match to an ancestor can be found who lived several hundred years ago.

The mtDNA of a person is not located in the nucleus of the sample cell but in the cytoplasm. This is the cellular material that is passed down from generation to generation. For those that wish to test this strand of DNA, they must be aware of one fact. The males receive this strand from their mothers, but that is where it ends.

Males pass on only the Y DNA chromosome. Because of this, a male has no genetic marker from their grandfather’s on their mother’s side. For this part of a family tree to be traced, a sample from a close relative, like a male sibling of the mother, would need to be obtained.

For this reason, the old saying that sons were the only carriers of the family blood line is more accurately stated as the only ones passing down the family DNA line. The mitochondrial DNA genealogy is only for determining the mother’s side of the family from child to female.

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Without ancestry DNA tests, most people can only name their maternal and paternal grandparents. After that the information becomes unreliable unless great time and effort is expended to research historical records.

Science allows us to look back at our ancient family tree, to the time when humans first migrated from their early roots in Africa. To find out where your family originated, migrated and then mutated to form its own group or haplogroup, you need only take a moment to swab the inside of your cheek with a special painless device.

Genealogists today are actively gathering DNA samples to establish markers and lines of ancestry. When looking for a DNA test lab ask about the size of the database. The larger the base of knowledge, the more reliable and informative your test results will be. There are several labs that provide DNA testing; begin your search with the size of the database.

There are two kits available, the Mitochondrial or mtDNA and the Y-Chromosome. The Y chromosome passes down only through the males of a family since males have an X and a Y chromosome while females have just an X. The Y Chromosome test will determine paternal linkage, while the mtDNA will explore the mother’s line for her female and male children.

There are various DNA test kits available and depending upon the number of markers the kit looks for, the more information the result will yield, and the greater the cost for the kit. You will receive the test kit in the mail. It will house what appears to be an undersized plastic toothbrush and a sterile container to place it in for mailing it back.

Once you return the ancestry DNA tests you’ll wait 6 to 8 weeks for the results and then you are on your way to exploring the ancient roots of your family.

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