Understanding Who am I

[arthur747]

I understand that at the "who am I" section both Y and Mt DNA results are combined. The explanation from NG is: "Your percentages reflect both recent influences and ancient genetic patterns in your DNA due to migrations as groups from different regions mixed over thousands of years. Your ancestors also mixed with ancient, now extinct hominid cousins".

What I do not understand is why it shows at "who am I" there are % of the 7 regions of the world. The Y is fully inherited from all the males before me at the family tree (father, grand father gg father etc) and the Mt from my mothers side. As it is clear that this is al Northern Europe, also back up by paperwork, I do not understand where the Asian part and the Mediterranean, Oceanic part is coming from.

Obviously the non European DNA came in, but at what time and how? For example if my Y DNA would be Haplo Group I which would be Northern Europe and my father would marry a female from Africa, my Y DNA Haplogroup would still show no sign from African DNA / Haplogroup and also my sons would only have Northern Europe DNA beeing Haplogroup I.

So how does this work?
thank you
kind regards
Arthur

[KATM]

Geno 2.0 also tests for autosomal DNA, as well as DNA for the Y and mt haplogroups. The autosomal is what is used to compare against all the reference populations they have, thus your other results for Asian, Mediterranean and Oceanic.

Plus, most people can only trace their ancestors back about 200 to 300 years, sometimes a bit further. You don't know from where some other ancestors came before that, to contribute to your autosomal DNA. Your quote from the "Who Am I?" section refers to autosomal DNA:
"Your percentages reflect both recent influences and ancient genetic patterns in your DNA due to migrations as groups from different regions mixed over thousands of years."

From the Geno 2.0 FAQ (I made bold the parts I wanted to emphasize):

Our testing focuses on deep ancestry from an anthropological perspective.

and

Geno 2.0 will run a comprehensive analysis to identify more than 3,000 genetic markers on your mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down each generation from mother to child, to reveal your direct maternal deep ancestry. In the case of men, we will also examine more than 10,000 markers on the Y chromosome, which is passed down from father to son, to reveal your direct paternal deep ancestry. In addition, for all participants, we will analyze a collection of more than 130,000 other markers from across your entire genome to reveal the regional affiliations of your ancestry, offering insights into your ancestors who are not on a direct maternal or paternal line for both males and females.

Included in these markers is a subset that scientists have recently determined to be from our hominid cousins, Neanderthals and the newly discovered Denisovans, who split from our lineage around 500,000 years ago. As modern humans were first migrating out of Africa more than 60,000 years ago, Neanderthals and Denisovans were still alive and well in Eurasia. It seems that our ancestors met, leaving a small genetic trace of these ancient relatives in our DNA.

If they can test markers for Neanderthals of many thousands of years ago, it's not surprising that some Asian or Mediterranean traveler or invader from a closer period (but still pre-paper records) could show up in your autosomal DNA.

I hope that helps.

[S9 H9]

A much deeper and troubling issue is that people believe an answer to a question such as "Who Am I?" can be answered by a DNA test (and a limited one at that.)

[Biblioteque]

arthur747: The Asian part? How about the Mongol Hordes and Huns who invaded and settled in parts of Europe.......