Monday January 16, 2006

I had my Y chromosome mapped recently, looking for short tandem repeats (STRs) on particular segments of the chromosome. Here are the my results, which list the DNA Y Segment (DYS) name and the number of repeats that occur at each marker site:

The diagram below shows roughly where these DYS sites are relative to genes on the Y chromosome:

I was tested as part of the Genographic Project, a five-year study to map the geographic migration of humans over the last 60,000 years using DNA studies. You can participate, too, by purchasing a Public Participation Kit and sending in two cheeks swabs for analysis. The fee supports research and data gathering and provides you with a basic analysis that includes 12 marker sites and a probabilistic mapping to one of the known haplogroups. My data indicate I belong to Haplogroup Q, which migrated out of Africa as shown below.

I know from other genealogical research that my male line (through which my Y chromosome passed unchanged except for mutations) came from Russia, which aligns with this result. As the study progresses and more data is gathered, I may be able to get more detailed information about my genographic background. There are also a number of places where one can get a much more detailed DNA analysis done-- analyses that cover more than 12 marker sites. And an increasing number of web sites where people are archiving their Y chromosome marker profiles for genealogical purposes. I've already been contacted by several people through the ysearch database who match my marker profile.