At 01:49 PM 4/9/2006, Karleene wrote: >Steve: > >Are you possibly saying that "mtDNA up later" is female results? If not, is >there possibility in the research that female Perkins DNA can be tested and >databased? > >Karleene >(daughter of a female Perkins) Hi, Karleene: Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to child (of both genders). So it is much less useful -- in fact almost completely useless -- for studies based on a surname, such as PERKINS. That is because it is *always lost* in the descent from father to child. The information which can be developed from mtDNA is therefore very different from yDNA, which tracks from father to son (never to a daughter). Darrell Darrell A. Martin darrellm@sprynet.com a native Vermonter currently in exile in Illinois http://www.darrell-martin.net/genealogy/