mtDNA Results Are In!
- Leslie Ryan
- Aug 21
- 3 min read
Last May when the DNA tests were all on sale for Mother's Day, I sent in my FamilyTreeDNA sample to see what I could see. The mtDNA results are in, I finally had time to play with them, and boy, has this been fun!
The FamilyTreeDNA mtDNA results have given me several new matches not found on other sites and more clues for my ancestral research.
As you may, or may not recall in an earlier blog post I shared that my brother's Y-DNA test was less than satisfactory. We only had three, yes, THREE good matches. They told me that we were on a very lonely branch of the World Family Tree, and not to bother testing any further along the Y-DNA line. I have thousands of mtDNA matches to choose from now!
mtDNA is the DNA that is passed from mother to daughter, from the original "Eve." It is found in the "egg white" portion of our cells, as opposed to the autosomal (both parents) that is found in the "egg yolk" part of the cells.
We don't need to get down into the nitty gritty, but here, briefly, is a breakdown. There are two "variable regions" of the mtDNA that are tested for matching and the results are separated as HVR1 and HVR2. The "mtDNA Full Sequence" test uses those two as well as a Coding Region that brings your matches into more recent times than those found in the Garden of Eden.
FTDNA has two separate views of your matches, Detail View and Table View, and both are sortable in a number of ways. The ones you will want to look at first are the "Coding Region" as these should be your closest matches. You can link to your MyHeritage trees, and see the posted trees of your matches. There's also a dandy Note option, where you can make your own notes about the match that are only visible to you!
Under "Results and Tools" at the top of the page, you can check out your Haplogroups, your Ancestral Origins, and my favorite toy so far, Matches Maps! There are there are thumbtacks to show you where are all of your matches' earliest known ancestors were!
You don't have to be a scientist to use your mtDNA test results. You will probably have to do a lot of tree building and collaborating with other testers to hook up with your matches, because even your closest mtDNA matches could be hundreds of years back! My mtDNA results have proven to me that my research of those hard to read records that led me to County Louth in Ireland is correct! And, as I said above, my top ten mtDNA matches are not matches at Ancestry, or MyHeritage. These are new matches to research!
FamilyTreeDNA has a great Help Section if you would like to dive down deeper before buying the test: https://help.familytreedna.com/hc/en-us/articles/12006660572687-Using-the-mtDNA-Matches-Page-Table-View
And, as usual, Diahan Southard's YourDNAGuide has a great free tutorial and an on-demand class on mtDNA for Genealogy (which is as of this date $129.00).
How's your tree building going? Have you tested your DNA at all? Sunday, September 7th! is Grandparents Day! The most important people to test for best bang for your buck, are your oldest available family members while they are still with us.
There may not be a sale on till Black Friday, but if you are quick, you could get a test kit or two in time to give in September.
Speaking of Black Friday, we only have about 4 weeks till the Holidays! Let me know if I can help you with gift ideas or your tree! Always a free no obligation review of your materials.
Best regards,
Leslie Ryan
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