Mr M's big fat DNA test

I've mentioned several times in the past what a big family history geek I am. I've even set up my own website about it, though that's still work in progress at the moment (story of my life!). Over the past 5 years I have been tracing both the family tree of myself and my husband and as part of this I developed an interest in other areas of genealogy including DNA tests. 

Last year I took an  mtDNA (maternal lineage test) and was fascinated by the results. Sure, it told me I was common as muck but it was still very exciting to find out about my possible heritgage and also led to further reading for me on the subject. You can read more about my own DNA test here. 

At this same time Mr M was also very curious. He hasn't done a whole lot in the way of family tree research as that's my domain however he is very interested and he was slightly jealous at my DNA test exploits so this year we set about testing his DNA courtesy of the DNA Diagnostics Centre and their Paternal Lineage Test.

The paternal test, which is only available for males, reveals your ancient paternal heritage via Y-chromosone testing checking the markers to determine which paternal haplogroup or clan you belong to. A haplogroup is a population of people who share common markers in their DNA and is usually associated with a geographical and historical point of origin.

Image from http://www.dna-bioscience.co.uk/

As with the maternal lineage test taking the swab was easy - just a buccal swab, a cotton wool bud, rubbed inside the cheeks to gather loose cheek cells. These cells contain the DNA used in the test. Pop the swabs into the envelope provided, stick it into the post and sit back and wait the required 4-6 weeks for your results to drop through the door which come in the form of a "certificate" showing your haplogroup and a manual.

Example certificate to protect the innocent*      *Mr M

We found out that Mr M belongs to Haplogroup R1b which originated 25-35,000 years ago in central or southwest Asia. He's a little bit older and more exotic than me clearly but no less common. Haplogroup R1b is a common haplogroup among men of Western European descent and can be found throughout Europe. Bryan Sykes who wrote The Seven Daughters of Eve which I mentioned in my mtDNA post gave the populations associated with R1b the name of Oisin for a clan patriarch.   Okay, so he's not descended from a rare or old hapolgroup but learning things like this haplogroup was identified in the remains of a 24,000 year old boy from the Altai region in south-central Siberia fascinates me! 

As with my own results, we received the raw data in the pack which allows you to compare your own data with other peoples. I again used the Mitosearch website to do this again. It's quite fascinating to do this and you can take your research quite far as there are many websites offering similar and more detail comparisons, including surname studies. If you do find a close match you are able to get in contact with others via these sites and perhaps compare your family tree!

Accurate or not, I really find these DNA tests fascinating and it definitely gives me something to think about past names and dates on a chart.

If you're interested in finding out more about DNA Ancestry Tests you can visit DDC's website by clicking here or phone 0845 408 2084 for more information.