I’m still VERY excited about the haplogroup L7 discovery. Mitochondrial Eve’s new 100,000-year-old great-granddaughter. So is the rest of the Million Mito Team
We’ve created a short video explaining just why this is so cool.
Paul, Dr. Maier, the Population Geneticist on our Million Mito team did a great job as producer. He’s certainly multi-talented! Thanks Paul.
Please understand that this is “just us,” no professional production, editors or anything like that. You’re seeing the real deal here. This video is something we wanted to do for all of you. We’re excited to tell this amazing story – one that we’ve explained in terms that everyone can understand and enjoy. We want you to love mitochondrial DNA as much as we do.
Please share this video far and wide with your family and friends. Remind them that everyone inherits their mother’s (and only their mother’s) mitochondrial DNA. They can make cool discoveries too.
But wait, there’s more!
Dr. Miguel Vilar’s Article
FamilyTreeDNA just published a guest blog article titled A 100,000Year-Old Human Lineage Rediscovered, written by genetic anthropologist Dr. Miguel Villar.
You’ll recognize Miguel as one of the four Million Mito team members in the video, but you may also remember him as the Senior Program Officer for the National Geographic Society and the Lead Scientist for the Genographic Project.
I think you’ll agree, he’s a great writer too!
What’s Your Story?
Not only is mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) useful genealogically, it’s the story of all womankind. You don’t have to be a genealogist to appreciate and enjoy your mtDNA journey.
Mitochondrial DNA tells a story about each of us that we would never know otherwise.
The best part is that every single person can test their own mitochondrial DNA to learn more about their family story – and very specifically about their mother’s direct line ancestry that may be eclipsed or overshadowed in autosomal DNA by more recent admixture.
Where does your mitochondrial DNA lead?
What Else Can You Do?
You, your mother, and your maternal siblings all share the same mitochondrial DNA, passed to you by your mother. But what about your father? He inherited HIS mother’s mitochondrial DNA, but you didn’t.
You can discover your paternal grandmother’s mtDNA story by testing your father’s mtDNA, or his maternal line siblings if he’s not available for testing.
Your paternal grandmother’s story is your family story too!
Let me know if you like the video and if it makes mtDNA easier to understand and explain to your relatives. I hope this discovery and video help sew the seeds of curiosity.
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My wife and I submitted our DNA to ANCESTRY in 2018. Would those results have included Mitochondrial test results? If not, how would we get them?
We also loaded our ANCESTRY DNA to MyHeritage as well as GEDMatch.
No. Mitochondrial is a separate test because it’s a different kind of DNA. You need to take that test at FamilyTreeDNA.
Roberta,
In this blog you stated that “your father inherited his mother’s mtdna, but you didn’t.” I’m confused by this statement. I thought that a woman was only connected to her father through his mother. Since a father can’t pass down X chromosomes, we get the X chromosomes from his mother. So, is that wrong? What, then, do we inherit from our father’s DNA as their daughters?
Good question. You’ve confused two types of DNA. Mitochondrial DNA and the X chromosome are entirely different, with different inheritance paths. Here’s an article that should help: https://dna-explained.com/2017/07/26/x-matching-and-mitochondrial-dna-is-not-the-same-thing/
Hi Roberta,
I love reading your posts. I was just wondering if you can lead me in the right direction to find out more about my maternal haplogroup?
I am H51 ( full sequence) and I can’t really find much information about it. I think I read that it came from the Basque region but I could be misunderstanding what I have read.
Do you expect to have another update this year or would it still be quite a while away?
I have also ordered a Y-37 test for my maternal grandfather and I also plan to get him the upgraded to have the mtDNA Full Sequence to help with the project.
Thank you. Check the public tree for locations. Also be sure to check all the tabs for leads. The update won’t be this year.
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