This has a lot of technical terms but it has less terms than a number of other sources have.

Wayne N. Parker

https://isogg.org/wiki/Haplogroup

Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups

Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) haplogroups are determined by single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) tests. SNPs are locations on the DNA where one nucleotide has "mutated" or "switched" to a different nucleotide.

Because a haplogroup consists of similar haplotypes, it is possible to predict a haplogroup from the haplotype. A SNP test is required to confirm the haplogroup prediction. Not all the testing companies offer SNP testing, and consequently their customers' haplogroup predictions are sometimes inaccurate. For advice on SNP testing it is recommended that you join the appropriate Y-DNA haplogroup project and seek advice from the volunteer project administrators.

ISOGG maintains the most up-to-date version of the Y-SNP tree. The tree is updated as and when new branch-defining SNPs are discovered. The criteria for inclusion of SNPs in the tree are published here.

Phylotree maintains a minimal reference phylogeny for the human Y-chromosome, an abbreviated version of the Y-tree showing only the principal branches. The Phylotree Y tree can be found here. Background information on the methodology of the tree and the SNPs included can be found here.

There are a number of tools that can be used to predict the Y-DNA haplogroup. For a full list see the ISOGG Wiki page Y-DNA tools.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup

Human Y chromosomes are male-specific sex chromosomes; nearly all humans that possess a Y chromosome will be morphologically male. Although Y chromosomes are situated in the cell nucleus and paired with X chromosomes, they only recombine with the X chromosome at the ends of the Y chromosome; the remaining 95% of the Y chromosome does not recombine. Therefore, the Y chromosome and any mutations that arise in it are passed on from father to son in a direct male line of descent. This means the Y chromosome and mtDNA share specific properties.

Other chromosomes, autosomes and X chromosomes in women, share their genetic material (called crossing over leading to recombination) during meiosis (a special type of cell division that occurs for the purposes of sexual reproduction). Effectively this means that the genetic material from these chromosomes gets mixed up in every generation, and so any new mutations are passed down randomly from parents to offspring.

The special feature that both Y chromosomes and mtDNA display is that mutations can accrue along a certain segment of both molecules and these mutations remain fixed in place on the DNA. Furthermore, the historical sequence of these mutations can also be inferred. For example, if a set of ten Y chromosomes (derived from ten different men) contains a mutation, A, but only five of these chromosomes contain a second mutation, B, then it must be the case that mutation B occurred after mutation A.

Furthermore, all ten men who carry the chromosome with mutation A are the direct male line descendants of the same man who was the first person to carry this mutation. The first man to carry mutation B was also a direct male line descendant of this man, but is also the direct male line ancestor of all men carrying mutation B. Series of mutations such as this form molecular lineages. Furthermore, each mutation defines a set of specific Y chromosomes called a haplogroup.

All men carrying mutation A form a single haplogroup, and all men carrying mutation B are part of this haplogroup, but mutation B also defines a more recent haplogroup (which is a subgroup or subclade) of its own to which men carrying only mutation A do not belong. Both mtDNA and Y chromosomes are grouped into lineages and haplogroups; these are often presented as tree like diagrams

You need to be a member of Parker Heritage to add comments!

Join Parker Heritage

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • I hereby grant you the title, Professor Wayne!
    • Thanks Mike. I shall wear the title with pride as I am mainly a self educated person who believes, a person is never too old to learn or for that matter never to young either.
      I have to give a big big thanks to my Daddy for teaching me that reading books, newspapers, and magazines was not only fun but that the knowledge that I can learn would be with me the rest of my life. I lost my Mother at the age of nine and she too encouraged me to read. I lost Dad in 1967 and to this very day, I will think about a subject that I would love dearly to talk with him about.
This reply was deleted.