As per my previous
explanatory posts, remember that the various types of tests (a) look at different
ancestral lineages (male, female, both) and (b) focus on different genealogical
and anthropological timeframes.
Y-DNA
test
This test identifies
genealogical connections on the direct paternal lineage and also suggests
paternal ancestral origins via the Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeats (STR) or Single
Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP).
Y-Haplogroup (STR
prediction)
I belong to
the R1b1a2 Y-Haplogroup. Haplogroup R is
one of the two branches of the mega-haplogroup P and originated approximately
30,000 years ago in Central Asia. It has two main branches, R1 and R2. R1
spread from Central Asia into Europe while R2 spread east into the Indian
subcontinent.
R1b is the
most frequently occurring Y-chromosome haplogroup in Western Europe. One study determined
its origin to be about 18,500 years before the present and are the direct
descendants of Cro-Magnon man who dominated the Upper Paleolithic expansion
into Europe. R1b1a2 is believed to have
expanded throughout Europe as humans re-colonized after the last ice age which ended
approximately 10-12 thousand years ago. The Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamun (134 –
1323 BC) also belongs to the haplogroup R1b1a2.
Y-Haplogroup Deep
Clade (SNP)
The SNP
test put me in the R1b1a2a1a1a1 Haplogroup (short name is U198) which confirms
the “lower resolution” STR prediction. According to the FTDNA group project,
the highest concentration of R-U198 to-date is in men of English ancestry (but
not in the Gaelic population) but even there, R-U198 is uncommon, making up
about 2% of the male population. This does not mean that R-U198 necessarily
originated in England but it seems likely that members of this haplogroup last
shared a common direct-line paternal ancestor around 2,000-3,000 years ago
which is indeed young enough to have originated in England after the last ice
age had ended. It is believed that R1b in general spread rapidly (and
relatively recently) westwards across Europe so the likely point of origin of
R-U198 may lie anywhere on a track from south-eastern Europe to Britain.
FTDNA Y-chromosome Database
Matches
My paternal
line database match results are rather unexciting, due to size limitations of
the databases. Over time, more and more individuals will hopefully add their
data to them and more high-level matches could result.
·
67 marker test (shorter time to MRCA): No matches.
·
37 marker test: No matches.
·
25 marker test: 11 matches. One is Step 1 (a match
of 24/25 markers); the others are Step 2 (a 23/25 match). The countries of origin are UK/England &
Germany.
·
12 marker test (longer time to MRCA): 749 of which
many are Step Zero (12/12 match). Many European countries are represented but
esp. UK/England/Germany. Five have the last name Hudson; all these are matches
at Step 1.
Hudson surname Y-DNA
Project
No Hudson
matches at the 25 marker level
Mitochondrial
test (Full Genome MtDNA)
This tests
sequences of the HVR1, HVR1 and the Coding Regions of the mitochondrial DNA. Due
to the mtDNA slow mutation rate, the tests are often more applicable to deep-ancestry
predictions than to more recent genealogical applications.
MtDNA Haplogroup
I belong to
the Haplogroup U5a. The U5 Haplogroup (Bryan Sykes’ clan Ursula) is the oldest
mtDNA haplogroup found in European Homo
sapiens. It has a broad geographic distribution, ranging from Europe and
North Africa to India and Central Asia. The wide distribution is due to its
antiquity, with its appearance immediately following that of haplogroup R,
after “the Out of Africa” exit.
The age of
U5 is estimated at about 50,000 BP and approximately 11% of Europeans belong to
this haplogroup. U5 most likely appeared in the Near East and spread into
Europe in an early expansion before the last Ice Age and which also pre-dates
the expansion of agriculture in Europe. It was actually the principal mtDNA haplogroup
of the Paleolithic hunter-gatherers in Northern Europe but declined through
later times due to the influence of subsequent migrations. Interestingly, U5 individuals
may have been come in contact with Neanderthals living in Europe at the time.
The sub-haplogroup
or subclade U5a is a later mutation that arose around 20,000 years ago and thus
most likely evolved during the last ice age. The remains of Cheddar Man, a Mesolithic male
found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset and who died circa 7150 BC,
were DNA tested and it was found that he also belonged to the U5a haplogroup.
For many
reasons, mtDNA and Y-chromosome lineages may indicate different migration patterns.
However, the mtDNA haplogroup U is often associated with the Y-chromosome group
R, predictably in Europe.
FTDNA MtDNA Database
Matches and Project Groups
HVR1 only.
There are 38 matches, all in the U5 or U5a haplogroup. All have a
maternal country of origin from Western or Central Europe.
HVR1 + HVR2. There are seven matches, all of
haplogroup U5 or U5a and with maternal ancestry from England, Germany and
Spain.
HVR1 + HVR2 + Coding Region (aka Full
Genome Sequence, FGS). There
are no matches at this (highest) level of resolution.
There are seven
other people in the FTDNA U5 project group who are in the sub-haplogroup
U5a2a1d. Of these, only three others have known ancestry and are from England,
France and Wales. Apparently, I also
have one extra mutation at position 5892 that is unique for this group and this
should be useful for identifying people who share a more recent common maternal
ancestor.
Family
Finder (autosomal) test
This test identifies
and matches SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) in the autosomal DNA which comes
equally but randomly from both parents. It is thus a “gender neutral” test.
FTDNA Autosomal Database
Matches
This can
potentially match you with relatives descended from any of your ancestral lines
from up to five generations. I had eight
pages of “matches” but most only in the “speculative” range with five in the “distant
cousin” range (possibly the 3rd – 5th cousin range). One match
included Hudson as an ancestral name but no other name matches were identified.
Autosomal Population
Finder
This compares
the subject’s autosomal signature to a world DNA population database which reflects
the last 100 to 2,000 years (about 4 to 80 generations). ). This
data is based on rapidly-emerging technology and will undoubtedly change over
the coming years as the population definitions are further refined.
Continent (Subcontinent): Europe
Population: Orcadian reference group. The DNA make-up is of ancient Britons with
some components from the Picts (Iron-Age Celtic folks living in Scotland) and Vikings
(Norse explorers who settled in wide areas of Europe from the late 8th
to the mid-11th century).
Percentage:
100.00%
Margin of Error: ±0.01%
FTDNA’s
autosomal DNA tests use the Human Genetic Diversity Project (HGDP) at the
University of Stanford to provide the reference groups for their population
studies. In the breakdown I noticed that, the West European groups represented
were Basque, French, Orcadian (Orkney Islands) and Spanish. My own results happened to come back 100%
Orcadian. Now clearly these groups are indeed no more or less than reference
populations but surely anybody with a post Last Glacial Maximum heritage in
northwest Europe would show other components. What happened to the Britons, the
Celts and Anglo-Saxons?
I pursued
this concern with the Stamford group. Dr. Bruce Winney of the Department of
Oncology at the University of Oxford is a coordinator of the “People of British
Isles” study which is itself a component of the HGDP. He wrote:
You
are absolutely correct in thinking that the HGDP doesn't really make a good set
of reference populations for Europe.
This may well be why you came out 100% Orcadian and it cannot capture
Ancient British and Anglo-Saxon ancestry at all. However, we are hoping that with our project
and collaborations, better possibilities are in the way, although I do suspect
it will take a year or so before we get there.
You may want to keep an eye on our website (www.peopleofthebritishisles.org
), where we will make available a really interesting paper that we are writing
at the moment.
Contrary to
this point of view would be the argument that the DNA of most white Britons has
been passed down from relatively few individuals who occupied the region immediately
after the last Ice Age; some studies claim that the DNA of the base-population of
the British Isles has not changed much since 6000 BC. This would indicate a genetic
signature that largely minimizes the effect of subsequent migrations to Britain
from Europe. In this instance, the Ancient British (late Paleolithic –
Neolithic) component of the Orcadian reference group would make it an
acceptable surrogate. I guess this just
reinforces that we are at the cutting edge of the science. At the present time,
“Orcadian” remains no more than an autosomal surrogate for the British Isles.
