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The use of DNA for genealogical purposes is quite
new, and therefore unfamiliar to most people. For that reason, we begin
this analysis with a short DNA primer before going on to describe the
results to date of our Y-DNA Project as they pertain to our Doty-Doten
heritage
within the last 400 years. For an analysis of our results as they pertain to our more
distant past, please click on Analysis of
Results – Our Deep Ancestral Roots. To see all our test results
in one table, please go to
Y-DNA Test
Results. Y-DNA Primer Each of us inherits 46 chromosomes from our parents, 23 from our mother and 23 from our father. One of the chromosomes inherited from our father determines our gender. Those who inherit the X-Chromosome from their father are females, while those who inherit the Y-Chromosome are males. Our DNA testing is done on the Y-Chromosome; thus the name of the Project: “Y-DNA”. We, and others with similar projects, selected this chromosome because it is passed on from father to son almost unchanged from generation to generation. Because of this characteristic, it is the best chromosome to use when investigating one's likely paternal heritage. Results of these Y-DNA tests are stated as a series of numbers which indicate the number of times that a particular sequence of chemicals is repeated in specific segments of our strands of DNA. (The word “marker” is used by geneticists when referring to these DNA segments.) In our Project, we are asking that members have at least 37 markers, or segments of their DNA tested, so their results will consist of 37 numbers, one for each marker. The entire set of 37 numbers for any individual is typically referred to as that individual’s haplotype. An example of test results, the haplotype of one of our participants, is shown in Table 1. The numbers shown vertically at the top of the Table, typically called DYS numbers, are numbers that geneticists have assigned to each marker or segment of DNA tested. DYS numbers in red denote markers at which mutations tend to occur more rapidly than average, while those in black denote markers with mutation rates that are lower than average. Thus, at the first relatively slow mutating marker, denoted by DYS #393, this individual’s chemical sequence was repeated 13 times; at the second marker with a relatively low mutation rate, DYS #390, the sequence was repeated 24 times, and so on through all 37 markers. Table 1. The Test Results, or Haplotype, of One of Our Participants |
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