Male mtDNA

[railwayop]

Hello:
This may seem like a dumb question, I guess that's why I am asking it because I don't know.

I have just received the HVR1 results for T* (I am R1b1b2a2e M222+ also awaiting the mega refinement mtDNA test results).

Anyway, is the mtDNA that I carry from my mother et al the exact same mtDNA sequence including polymorphisms my mother had and received from her mother? Would or could there be differences because I am a male or is that even possible because it doesn't matter since I cannot pass it along?

And what does the asterik mean with the T (a wildcard for any subclade?).

Thanks.

Robbie

[GhostX]

Hello:
This may seem like a dumb question, I guess that's why I am asking it because I don't know.

I have just received the HVR1 results for T* (I am R1b1b2a2e M222+ also awaiting the mega refinement mtDNA test results).

Anyway, is the mtDNA that I carry from my mother et al the exact same mtDNA sequence including polymorphisms my mother had and received from her mother? Would or could there be differences because I am a male or is that even possible because it doesn't matter since I cannot pass it along?

And what does the asterik mean with the T (a wildcard for any subclade?).

Thanks.

Robbie

Yes, your mtDNA sequence would be exactly the same as you mother, mother's mother, etc. (unless you had a mutation somewhere, which is unlikely). Being a male would not cause any differences.

The asterisk means that you do not belong to any of the known subclades of T. That's different from just being a T (without the asterisk), which would mean that you haven't had enough testing yet to determine whether you can be assigned to a known subclade.

[cacio]

Yes, your mtdna is the exact same your mother received from her mother etc., the fact that you are male doesn't have any effect on this. Of course, as you say, since you are male, you are not going to pass your mtdna to your children.

Very occasionally, perhaps once every thousand years or more, in one of the mother-child transmissions there is a random mutation, that introduces a new polymorphism in the child's mtdna. It is the cumulation of these random mutations that allow one to define haplogroups.

The asterisk means that you belong to a haplogroup, but not to the subhaplogroups the company tests for. I don't know what FTDNA tests for haplogroup T; it is also possible that in the basic hvr1 test they don't test for anything deeper than T, so everybody at that stage is a T*. If you upload your results to mitosearch.org, you can compare yourself to other people.

cacio

[GhostX]

Yes, your mtDNA sequence would be exactly the same as you mother, mother's mother, etc. (unless you had a mutation somewhere, which is unlikely). Being a male would not cause any differences.

The asterisk means that you do not belong to any of the known subclades of T. That's different from just being a T (without the asterisk), which would mean that you haven't had enough testing yet to determine whether you can be assigned to a known subclade.

One clarification about what I just wrote above... FTDNA is getting away from the practice of assigning an asterisk to a haplogroup designator, especially for Y-DNA haplogroups, because every time a new subclade is discovered, you would have to test for it in order to keep the asterisk.

[railwayop]

Male mtDNA

One clarification about what I just wrote above... FTDNA is getting away from the practice of assigning an asterisk to a haplogroup designator, especially for Y-DNA haplogroups, because every time a new subclade is discovered, you would have to test for it in order to keep the asterisk.

Hi again.
Thank you for the clarification and explanation. Much appreciated.

Would the mtDNA HVR2 to mega refinement test be more than enough in order to get a subglade to replace the asterik then? I think I read somewhere that some people have done this test as I am doing now and it has not resulted any changes and they still are a T* or other?

Thanks again!
Robbie

[GhostX]

Hi again.
Thank you for the clarification and explanation. Much appreciated.

Would the mtDNA HVR2 to mega refinement test be more than enough in order to get a subglade to replace the asterik then? I think I read somewhere that some people have done this test as I am doing now and it has not resulted any changes and they still are a T* or other?

Thanks again!
Robbie

The mega test won't necessarily tell you your subclade. It didn't for me. There are simply some subclades that haven't been discovered yet, so the lab can't know which markers define them. However, since you'll have your complete sequence, you'll be able to instantly know if you fit into any newly-discovered subclade, with no further testing necessary.