DNA Report

This week John got his DNA report, which is now reasonably easy to get based on a saliva sample.  Beyond a bunch of health information regarding his risk profile for certain diseases and what medications to avoid, it also had a very interesting couple of sections on his DNA’s history, both on Mum and Dad’s side.  

First Mum who will be henceforth know as ‘the Spaniard with Norwegian relatives’

This is the map of where in the world her gene type is found:

Here’s the history of her genes:

Haplogroup H1 originated about 13,000 years ago, not long after the end of the Ice Age. At that time much of Europe was covered by glacial ice sheets that descended southward from Scandinavia and extended across the alpine regions of the Pyrenees and Italian Alps. People who had formerly inhabited continental Europe sought refuge in the warmer climates of southern France, the Iberian and Italian peninsulas.

The H1 mutation likely arose in a woman living on the Iberian peninsula. Even today, almost 25% of the Spanish population carries the H1 haplogroup. With the waning of the Ice Age, some populations grew rapidly and expanded northward from the Iberian refuge. Others turned southward, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar into northern Africa.

Following the Atlantic coast northwards, hunter-gatherers carried H1 into what would become the British Isles. As the ice sheets retreated farther they carried the haplogroup as far as Scandinavia. The H1 haplogroup remains quite high in the present-day populations of Britain and Ireland as well, ranging from levels of 15% to 40%.

About 13% of present-day Europeans trace their maternal ancestry to the H1 haplogroup. Though it is of western European origin, it also reaches significant levels outside Europe, from Morocco and Tunisia to Lebanon and east into Central Asia.

Now here’s Dad’s Genes (henceforth known as ‘the Prince’)

 Dad’s genes are a version of a version of the gene R1, so read all the way down to get to the final version that is his gene R1b1b2a1a2f2

Haplogroup R1

R1 is the dominant haplogroup in Europe today, accounting for well over half of all men. After being confined to the continent’s southern fringes during the Ice Age, it expanded rapidly in the wake of the receding glaciers about 12,000 years ago. Various branches of R1 also trace the many migrations that have shaped Europe since then, from the arrival of farmers between about 10,000 and 7,000 years ago to the movements of ethnic groups such as the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.

Haplogroup R1b

Haplogroup R1b was confined during the Ice Age to pockets of territory in Mediterranean Europe. The largest was in the Iberian peninsula and southern France, where men bearing the haplogroup created the famous cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamira. They also hunted mammoth, bison and other large game in a climate that was more like present-day Siberia’s than the mild conditions prevailing in southern Europe today.

Some men bearing R1b Y-chromosomes also seem to have spent the Ice Age in the Balkans and Anatolia, where the haplogroup is still present today.

After the Ice Age, the haplogroup expanded rapidly in the wake of the retreating glaciers. Today R1b is by far the most common haplogroup in the western half of the continent.

Haplogroup R1b1b2

R1b1b2 is the most common haplogroup in western Europe, where it is found in more than 50% of men. Ancient representatives of the haplogroup were among the first people to repopulate the western part of Europe after the Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago. In the process the haplogroup differentiated into even more distinct groups that can trace the details of the post-Ice Age migrations.

Haplogroup R1b1b2a1a2b

R1b1b2a1a2b arose about 20,000 years ago, when the Ice Age was at its peak. It appears to have originated among the ancestors of the present-day Basque, because of the relatively high diversity of the haplogroup in that population compared to neighboring ones. Today R1b1b2a1a2b is found in about 5% of Basque and 1% of Iberians.

Haplogroup R1b1b2a1a2f2

R1b1b2a1a2f2 reaches its peak in Ireland, where the vast majority of men carry Y-chromosomes belonging to the haplogroup. Researchers have recently discovered that a large subset of men assigned to the haplogroup may be direct male descendants of an Irish king who ruled during the 4th and early 5th centuries. According to Irish history, a king named Niall of the Nine Hostages established the Ui Neill dynasty that ruled the island country for the next millennium.

Northwestern Ireland is said to have been the core of Niall’s kingdom; and that is exactly where men bearing the genetic signature associated with him are most common. About 17% of men in northwestern Ireland have Y-chromosomes that are exact matches to the signature, and another few percent vary from it only slightly. In New York City, a magnet for Irish immigrants during the 19th and early 20th century, 2% of men have Y-chromosomes matching the Ui Neill signature. Genetic analysis suggests that all these men share a common ancestor who lived about 1,700 years ago. Among men living in northwestern Ireland today that date is closer to 1,000 years ago. Those dates neatly bracket the era when Niall is supposed to have reigned.

Outside Ireland, R1b1b2a1a2f2 is relatively common only along the west coast of Britain.