Does Genographic project test HVR2?

[birdy06]

Do the results from Genographic project include HVR2? I'm very new to this and just trying to learn my "genographic ABCs" right now. The results for my husband and myself contained no HVR2 mutations, only HVR1. It is safe to assume we don't have any then? It doesn't specify anywhere on the site exactly what they test... I am considering getting more testing done but don't know the pros and cons. Since we are still waiting for YDNA information, I've got plenty to think about for a while.

Thanks!

[efgen]

No, Genographic Project only tests for HVR1 (mtDNA) and 12 markers (Y-DNA). Upgrades can be done by transferring your results to FTDNA free of charge and then ordering further tests. If you haven't already, click the "Learn more" link at the very bottom of your Genographic Project results page to transfer your GP results to FTDNA. Then once you have an FTDNA account, click the Order Tests link in the upper right corner.

[birdy06]

Thank you so much! I do have an account (well, I'm trying to manage 3 right now, me, hubby and brother!) and have noticed the offers. It's all overwhelming. I just got off the TribesDNA and the ancestorybyDNA sites.

I honestly am not sure which action to take next. I do want more information, especially for hubby. My family's records go back 300 years to England and there are fairly current (grand and great grand parents) immigrations from Sweden. Not sure what more there is for me to learn about my own ancestory? I have this romantic notion I am related to Vikings and Leif Ericson (that's OUR spelling LOL) but I don't think my DNA will really tell me that much, will it?

I have been reading here a lot and it has taught me so much.

[cacio]

birdy:

regarding your husband, there was an old thread on L3, which you can look at:

http://www.ftdna.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1210

in the last two posts, I link to a paper by Salas which talks about the distribution of L haplogroups in Africa and among African Americans. As said there, L3e2 is quite common among African Americans. It is of likely West African origin, although haplogroups tend to be spread out throughout Africa.

Regarding your H, I don't think HVR2 will give much information per se, haplogroup H does not tend to have particular mutations in HVR2. More informative could be the refinement test for haplogroup H, in which they look at the coding regions (ie outside HVR1 and HVR2) for the mutations defining a few subhaplogroups (H1, H2, H3 etc.). Said that, haplogroup H and most of these subhaplogroups are spread out all over Europe, so this probably won't tell you about a specific place (mutations in the mtdna tend to be slow). If you were interested and willing to pay, you could even have the whole mtdna sequenced (besides FTDNA, there are other companies that offer the full mtdna for a cheaper price, around $ 350). In theory, this could give you more mutations to match a specific place of lineage. However, right now, the number of published and available full mtdna sequences is small, so until more and more people test, there are not enough people with full mtdna to compare oneself with.

cacio