I bought DNA kits through the National Geographic Genographic Project -- one for my dad, one for my mom, and one for my husband.
My mom's mitochondrial DNA came back related to Siberians and Aleuts and North American Native Americans -- not surprising given that her mother's mother's mother was Turtle Mountain Anishinabe/Ojibwa/Chippewa. (Pretty good proof of the Siberian land bridge theory, too.)
MtDNA goes mother to mother to mother -- but men have it, too, they just have the same as their mother. All of a woman's children, both male and female, will have the same mtDNA that she does.
Similarly, Y chromosome DNA goes father to father to father. But only males have it. All of a man's sons will have the same Y chromosome DNA that he does. None of his daughters will because they don't have Y chromosome DNA.
And then there is the regular nuclear DNA, which we get approximately 50-50 from each parent, all mixed up, a unique blend for each person (unless they're twins, triplets, etc., or clones). They don't use this to study "deep ancestry" like they do mtDNA and (to a lesser extent) Y chromosome DNA.
Support the National Geographic Genographic Project -- and have some interesting fun.
www5.nationalgeographic.com |
