3 Jan 2002 List: For those of you with an interest in the use of Y-chromosome analysis and mitochondrial DNA analysis and its use in genealogy, there is a list for this topic. Send a subscribe subject line to GENEALOGY-DNA-D-request@rootsweb.com to receive the messages in digest form. This is an active list. ***** With regard to females participating in Y-chromosome studies, there are not any easy or relatively inexpensive ways for those females without living male relatives with the SURNAME of interest, such as PAYNE, to participate in such a study. As stated on the list, Y-chromosomes are passed from biological fathers to their sons, but not from biological fathers to their daughters. The study of Y-chromosomes is the study of a direct line of fathers and sons through many generations. In many western societies sons inherit the surname of their biological father. So the Y-chromosome analysis is similar to the study of male surnames, with some important exceptions. Sometimes children inherit a different surname than their biological father through social custom. Cases like this would include legal adoptions and children fathered by a male of a different surname (female infidelity or rape). ***** The analysis of mitochondrial DNA (abbreviated mtDNA)is almost the mirror image of Y-chromosome analysis. mtDNA is passed only from biological mothers to their children. Biological fathers do not pass mtDNA on to their children. So in many western societies in which male surnames are inherited by the offspring, a mtDNA study will usually involve individuals with different surnames in each generation. For example in my case, my surname is SIMS, and I have mtDNA from my mother who had a different maiden name than my surname. My mother got her mtDNA from her mother whose' maiden name was BILBREY. My grandmother with the BILBERY maiden name got her mtDNA from her mother whose maiden name was ARNOLD. My great grandmother ARNOLD got her mtDNA from her mother with maiden name of HILL, etc. backward in time. ***** It turns out that the mutation rates for the markers on the Y-chromosome are much higher than the mutation rates in mtDNA. This mutation rate for Y-chromosome markers such as those with names like DYS19 occur at about the right rate to make them useful for studying the history of Y-chromosomes on relatively short time scales, say 12 to 75 generations into the past. The more markers studied, the closer in time comparisons can be made. Because of low mutation rates for mtDNA, this type of analysis is more appropriate for determining what happened over a much longer time period, such as between 10,000 and 100,000 years ago, which is before recorded history began. ***** For persons with a European origin, more than half of all Europeans descendants will have a mtDNA haplotype called H in the scientific literature and this is the same as Byran Sykes' Helena Clan. The Helana sequence arose about 20,000 years ago. When I had my mtDNA typed, I was haplotype U or Ursula Clan. This clan arose 45,000 years ago and only about 11% of modern day Europeans have this haplotype. This is the oldest of the surviving Clans in Europe. mtDNA analysis can produce some surprising results, such as indicating a person had an ancestral mother of Native American origin, for example. Such information is usually not documented in family records, and is only ascertained by such analysis of mtDNA. World-wide, there are about 30 different mtDNA clans that have been identified, meaning that so far as we know today, descendants of only about 30 women who lived sometime in the far distant past still have living descendents in the world today. As we sequence more samples from such places as the far east, the list of clan mothers may increase. Jim Sims Fort Worth, TX jimsims@sbcglobal.net