Does anyone know what the results for genealogy dna testing means?

Question

i am very interested in tracing my family history. i recently took a dna test for genetree and i am still a little confused as to understanding it. it was a maternal mitochondrial test. i also tried to put my dna into ancestry.com, but i didn't know what my mtdna regions were. if you could give me some suggestions, i would really appreciate it. thanks

Answer 1

Agghh! I would have suggested www.familytreedna.com, as they provide your very own webpage, explanations of mtDNA, yDNA, what it means, provide maps showing where your ancestors came from the whole nine yards.

Another suggestion: try National Geographics Genotype Program (just google it; they have several websites); it shows the migration patters for the different genotypes.

I don't know how you put your DNA into ancestry.com, but you can do it with the National Geographics.

The mtDNA (mitochondrial) test shows ONLY a direct line THROUGH females; i.e., your mother, her mother, her mother, her mother...

Answer 2

The mtDNA tests can determine a common maternal ancestor.  That's how the remains of the Romanov family were positively identified.  They shared a common maternal ancestor with England's Prince Philip.

It is often more valuable than a paternal line test simply because your mama is always your mama, but your daddy could be anybody.  The genealogical value mostly comes in with finding female lines.  It won't tell you who or when, but it is a big help in finding lines to tie yourself into.

You were most likely provided with two sets of results; HVR-1 with 470 sequences and HVR-2 with 290 sequences.  At the the very least, you have HVR-1 results.

On the Ancestry.com site, under mtDNA regions tested, select what you had done: HVR-1, HVR-1 & HVR-2, or HVR-1, HVR-2 & HVR-3.  

Your results that DIFFER from the Cambridge Reference Sequence should be displayed on your test results.  This is what you enter on the Ancestry site.  Enter the location and value.

Answer 3

From my reading of "The seven Daughters of Eve", the maternal test won't help you much for genealogy. The "Y" chromosome is the one that may or may not match people who descend from someone who was alive in the last 300 years.

The company that you paid to test you should have a help page on their site. If not, call them and ask. You are their customer, after all.