Determining Native American Ancestry

[GingerRSmith]

I understand that if you are a male, you can take either a Y or mtDNA test to determine if you have Native American ancestry and that this is determined by the haplogroup you are designated. For the Y-test if you are designated by haplogroup C or Q, then you have Native American ancestry. If you take the mt-DNA test, and you are in haplogroups A, B, C, D or X, then you have Native American ancestry.

So my question is, if you don't know which side of your family the Native American ancestry came from, ie, maternal or paternal, how do you know which test to take?

Thanks
Ginger

[Yaffa]

Haplogroup C on males can be Asian or Indian. Haplogroup Q on males can be either Indian or European depending on certain markers

Haplogroups A B C and D on females can be Indian or Asian and X can be European or Indian depending on certain markers.

Y and MT DNA only goes to one direct line ancestor. If you have paper stating one of your ancestors were Indian try to find someone in that direct line to DNA test. If you dont have record of an Indian in your family but a story you would be spending a lot of money trying to get DNA on each one of your direct line ancestors trying to find out if the Indian story in your family is true or not.

[GingerRSmith]

Determining Native American Ancestry

Ok, so he suspects the Native American Indian blood comes in through his father's mother. So if we wanted to test this with DNA, we would have to get a female descendant of the grandmother to do an mtDNA test?

Could his father do an mtDNA test as well?

[Yaffa]

His father could MT-DNA test for his direct mother line as long as he has an unbroken chain of women going to direct mother line that you suspect is Indian. But if the Indian came from his mother's father this would not show up on his direct mother line.

[rainbow]

There are percentages tests.

I took this test in 2006 when it was given by DNA Print and I came up 17% Native American. DDC now does this test.

They lump Native American in the category of "Asian". I took this test and they say I have zero Asian (zero Native American).

FTDNA's Family Finder test will eventually include percentages and/or Population Finder.

[EdwardRHill]

Going by memory so

There is a rumor of Indian Blood in my family. So one day I asked on here if there was a way to find out if you have Native American ancestry. I was told that there is one marker that could be tested and it would tell you if you either have a chance or are part Native American. I don't remember what marker it is though sorry but there is a easier way of finding out than what I have read so far. OH one other thing it can be found on the special order page where you can pick which markers you want to tested and it will only be one marker you need. Will thats a clue at least.

[Yaffa]

There is a rumor of Indian Blood in my family. So one day I asked on here if there was a way to find out if you have Native American ancestry. I was told that there is one marker that could be tested and it would tell you if you either have a chance or are part Native American. I don't remember what marker it is though sorry but there is a easier way of finding out than what I have read so far. OH one other thing it can be found on the special order page where you can pick which markers you want to tested and it will only be one marker you need. Will thats a clue at least.

The marker you are talking about is an autosomal markerD9S919. If you turn up with 9 means you have and Indian ancestor somewhere. However this marker is rare. I have proven Indian lines and I know other who do. All of us DNA tested this autosomal marker and none I know came up with 9

example :Lets just say your 3rd great grandmother was Indian and she carried the 9 marker, there is only a 50% chance one of her children will get the 9 marker. With each generation there is only a 50% chance of getting the marker as its passed down. And not all Indians carry the 9 marker and does not men they are not Indian.

[rainbow]

I also did the D9S919 test. I don't have a 9.

The marker you are talking about is an autosomal markerD9S919. If you turn up with 9 means you have and Indian ancestor somewhere. However this marker is rare. I have proven Indian lines and I know other who do. All of us DNA tested this autosomal marker and none I know came up with 9

example :Lets just say your 3rd great grandmother was Indian and she carried the 9 marker, there is only a 50% chance one of her children will get the 9 marker. With each generation there is only a 50% chance of getting the marker as its passed down. And not all Indians carry the 9 marker and does not men they are not Indian.

[Yaffa]

I also did the D9S919 test. I don't have a 9.

When they came out with D9 all of us took it. I remember Dr faux had posted a big thread ( last year, 2 years ago?) asking people to post their D9 results. He was going to try and do a study on D9. I don't remember anyone posting they actually got a 9. I don't know if Dr faux ever had enough or found anyone who came up with D9 to do a study.

Dr Faux if your reading this did you ever find anyone who got a 9 autosomal marker on D9 ?

[DKF]

When they came out with D9 all of us took it. I remember Dr faux had posted a big thread ( last year, 2 years ago?) asking people to post their D9 results. He was going to try and do a study on D9. I don't remember anyone posting they actually got a 9. I don't know if Dr faux ever had enough or found anyone who came up with D9 to do a study.

Dr Faux if your reading this did you ever find anyone who got a 9 autosomal marker on D9 ?

Yaffa,

My inquiry was more about the 19 repeat variant for this marker. While it is clear now (thanks to the two recent articles published by Kari Schroeder et al.) that D9S919/1120 = 9 repeats is found in about 1/3 of Native Americans from Alaska to Peru, the 19 repeat allele is seen commonly in some NA groups (e.g., 20% of Sioux) but has not been reported in Europeans. I created a Google Map (alas I have lost the tinyURL) showing the trail of breadcrumbs of the 19 repeat variant leading from North Africa, through Pakistan, via Tibet and then to NE China and Siberia before crossing the Bering Strait to spread out widely in North America (but not South America).

Few people weighed in and fewer still with genealogically proven NA ancestry - in relation to the 9 or 19 variants. For the present, only the 9 repeat version of this marker would be considered proof of some NA ancestry. However as I have said so often - without a detailed genealogy to back up and give meaning to genetic findings they are simply stand alone information. Results such as DNAPrint or DNAT or even the autosomal results of decodeme or 23andMe testing could be grossly misleading, but at least D9S919=9, or a Y or mtDNA signature which is unmistakably NA, demonstrates that it is worth looking for a paper trail to match the genetic findings. The testing of Dr. McDonald (via BEAGLE and his new test under construction) also provide information you can take to the bank (although the "noise factor" is always going to be a problem in this sort of work - at least at the level below about 3-5% NA).

David.

[Yaffa]

Thank you for your response. I do remember the discussion also about 19 and I remember someone did post they got 19. I think we were questioning 20 also. The higher end markers in general as possibly being NA. I also remember in that thread you started that only 9 was accepted as Indian. I dont remember anyone in this forum with proven Indian ancestry coming up with 9 at all.

I have never taken 23andme or decodeme. I have no interest in % tests either since I agree with you they are misleading. If you want an Indian ancestor they will be sure to tell you you have one when you may not. Maybe we will see more accuracy with some of these test in the future as DNA research advances.

I would prefer to have Y and MT DNA on all my direct line ancestors.None of my family so far came up with 9. I have only tested myself and my uncle but I already have proven Indian lines with paper and MT DNA so no point in digging on more of the D9 marker since it would not tell me what ancestor it belonged to anyway.

In general I would think that since there is only a 50% chance 9 would be passed down to the next generation if someone came up with 9, their Indian ancestor would more than likely be close to the living on the family tree and close enough to lead to a paper trial if it existed.

[rainbow]

I heard about the D9 marker test from Tomcat's posts. He was testing his. That convinced me that it was worthwhile to test it. Tomcat also had a percentage of Native American, like me, from AncestryByDNA (DNAPrint), but he also has a Native American mitochondrial haplogroup. My mtdna haplogroup is European. I remember that my D9 result was the same as Tomcat's, and it wasn't 9. It was European 16.

When they came out with D9 all of us took it. I remember Dr faux had posted a big thread ( last year, 2 years ago?) asking people to post their D9 results.

[rainbow]

My D9S919 test, which cost about $15 last year, was in batch 291. My result was 16-16.
Only 31% of full-blooded Indians have a 9. A person who is only one-sixth has around a five percent chance of having a 9.

I heard about the D9 marker test from Tomcat's posts. He was testing his. That convinced me that it was worthwhile to test it. Tomcat also had a percentage of Native American, like me, from AncestryByDNA (DNAPrint), but he also has a Native American mitochondrial haplogroup. My mtdna haplogroup is European. I remember that my D9 result was the same as Tomcat's, and it wasn't 9. It was European 16.

[Yaffa]

I do remember the test for that marker was under $20. Tom and I ordered ours at the same time. He tested all his siblings too and none came up with 9. Tom's and my family all came up between 15-18 on the D9 marker.

Its rare that anyone will turn up with this 9 marker but at the same time cheap enough that it wont break the bank if someone wants to test one marker

[gijoeinfinity]

I've been waiting for the results for my grandmother on D9S919 for a while now, just in case. If it turns out it's something other than 9, then back to square one, minus $20. If it turns out equal to 9, then this might confirm the story of her mother being 1/2 NA, taken with a grain of salt of course, as discussed earlier in thread.