A few days ago I wrote about John Reid’s “Where Has Your DNA Been” post at Anglo-Connections a few days ago. This is similar to another meme which has been circulating the genealogy blogosphere for a few weeks now, including “Where was your family in 1908?” at 100 Years in America and “Where […]
Category Archives: mtDNA
Carnival of Genealogy, 35th Edition
Welcome to the November 4, 2007 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition was actually more of a question… Do you have a family mystery that might be solved by DNA? I offered to analyze a submitted post for questions or family mysteries that might be solved using genetic […]
The Qilakitsoq Mummies
A recent paper in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology examined mtDNA extracted from the hair and nails of eight Inuit mummies. These essentially freeze-dried mummies were discovered in 1972 in a natural tomb at Qilakitsoq in the Uummannaq Municipality of Greenland. Using C14 analysis, the mummies have been dated to approximately […]
Are aboriginal Australians and New Guineans the modern-day descendants of the extinct species Homo erectus?
Some scientists have hypothesized that Australian aboriginals received a portion of their DNA from an ancient hominid species called Homo erectus, which for a short time was contemporaneous with modern man. A recent study published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences) set out to answer this question by analyzing […]
Native American DNA in England
I was very surprised when genetic testing revealed that my maternal lineage was not European. I’m sure, however, that my surprise was nothing compared to that of two British women who recently discovered that their maternal lineage was of Native American descent (the original article is available through the BBC).
Doreen Isherwood and […]
Ten Videos for Genetic Genealogists
Want to know more about DNA, DNA replication, and mutations? Here are few videos that I thought might be helpful. Seeing a 3D animation of a biological process can be even more informative than reading about it.
1. DNA Structure I
2. DNA Structure II (a little more technical)
3. DNA Replication
4. PCR – Polymerase Chain […]
Genetic Genealogy Reporting by Non-Scientists - Be Cautious!
The Guardian, a newspaper based in England, recently published an article about genetic genealogy entitled “The appliance of science.“ It’s an interesting article that looks at the pros and cons of genetic testing for genealogical purposes.
The journalist quotes Chris Pomery, author of the up-coming book “Family History in the Genes: Trace Your DNA and […]
MITOMAP Publishes an Updated mtDNA Phylogenetic Tree
MITOMAP, the human mitochondrial genome database, has recently published a paper in Nucleic Acids Research (Free Full Text Here) announcing the completion of a full human mtDNA phylogenetic tree.
This tree, available here(pdf) was constructed from 2959 mtDNA coding region sequences (using the rCRS as the reference). In addition to listing mutations and the study […]

