Extended set of markers on the Y chromosome useful for detailed genealogical casework. View sample scores.

In reality, no population is “100% unmixed” or completely isolated from other populations. Genes can be shared between populations due to common origins, historical invasions, or slow diffusion by local contact over many generations. The result is admixture, the entry of one type of genes into the gene pool of another type.

The building blocks of proteins. There are 20 amino acids, each of which is coded for by three adjacent nucleotides in a DNA sequence.

Part of a nucleotide (a building block of DNA and RNA). In DNA, the bases are adenine (abbreviated A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). RNA contains uracil (U) instead of thymine.

The field of biology specializing in developing hardware and software to store and analyze the huge amounts of data being generated by life scientists.

the mitochondrial DNA sequence of a British man named Anderson, used since 1981 as a comparison with others' sequences. Differences from it are considered mutations (for instance a C instead of T at a certain position). View entire sequence. Abbreviated CRS, or rCRS (revised).

The basic subunit of any living organism; the simplest unit that can exist as an independent living system.

A cellular structure containing genes. Chromosomes are composed of DNA and proteins. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes in each body cell, one of each pair from the mother and the other from the father. The 23rd chromosome pair in males is the sex chromosome and contains an X and a Y. It is the Y chromosome (Ycs) that determines the male gender. The Y chromosome has the unique property of being passed virtually unchanged from generation to generation (only from one male to another male). This means that a man and all his sons will have the same Y chromosome. Likewise, he will have the same Y chromosome as his father and grandfather and so one. Therefore, one's profile, or haplotype, not only identifies him, but is also links him to his direct paternal line (pedigree).

Combined DNA Index System

The gene type of Old Testament priests and their descendants

Cambridge Reference Sequence. The mitochondrial sequence against which other people's mutations are compared. Also referred to as Andrews, or Anderson.

The control, or reference series, region of mitochondrial DNA, consisting of four segments, including HVR1 and HVR2. See diagram.

The shape that two linear strands of DNA assume when bonded together