Maternal Line

Back to where I started a few days ago, I decided to bite the bullet and send in some of my white blood cells to see what I might learn about my biological history—and to be analyzed for mitochondrial DNA. Unlike chromosomal DNA that is inherited from both parents, you get all your mitochondrial DNA from your mother. Mutations accumulate in mitochondrial DNA more quickly than in chromosomal DNA, so it's possible to trace your maternal ancestry way back beyond any relatives you may know by name—simply by tracking the inheritance of mutations in mitochondrial DNA. In due time the results came back. The markers that DNA Solutions identified show I belong to Haplogroup H, the most common Haplogroup in Europe, occurring in 40-60% of the population. My common female ancestor supposedly is a woman known as Mitochondrial Eve. Four initial groups of descendants known as Haplogroups Lo-L3 are related to Mitochondrial Eve. Group Lo apparently is now extinct, but Group L-3 divided into two subtypes: M and N. A DNA marker at position 10875T of my mitochondrial DNA, shows that I am a descendent of Haplogroup N. More in my next blog.