Greetings, As many of you know, I coordinate the DNA results on three Portuguese DNA studies: Portugal, Azores Islands, and Madeira Islands. Cheri Mello is also an administrator on the Azores study and José Fernandes is an administrator on the Madeira study, and I am very grateful to them both for their work on these projects, especially as the projects continue to grow with new participants joining weekly. Yesterday, we had an exciting development when a new mtDNA member joined the Azores study who matches a participant in the Portugal study! The significance of this is that the match indicates that the Azores participant's direct female line ancestor was very likely from mainland Portugal. For anyone reading this that might be new or unfamiliar with the settlement of the Azores and Madeira islands over 600 years ago, the islands were not colonized entirely by the Portuguese. Settlers also include the Flemish, Spaniards, Moors, Sephardi, and even the English (mostly on Madeira). The Portugal descendant is upgrading to the second panel - HVR2, and while the refinement may not reveal a closer match, since the common ancestor could potentially have lived 600+ years ago on the mainland, it's still beneficial to know that their ancestral origins may have originated in the area of Aveiro, Portugal. Coordinating this match is just one of the many benefits of geographical/heritage DNA studies. Also, 40 of the 48 participants in the Portugal DNA study are transfers from the National Geographic Genographic Project, and many of them live in Portugal. Saudações, Catarina Esperança Borges http://www.ourfamilyorigins.com/portugal/dna.htm<http://www.ourfamilyorigins.com/portugal/dna.htm>