Group Administrator:
David Pike (dapike@mun.ca), Sara-Lee Beller (bellermail@comcast.net)
Group Co-Administrator:
Project Background
The focus of this project is on maternal ancestral lines in Newfoundland and Labrador. Anybody with a direct maternal ancestor who lived in Newfoundland and/or Labrador is encouraged to join the project.
What is mtDNA?
Mitochondrial DNA (or "mtDNA" for short) is a small portion of our DNA, but it has the property of being inherited only from one's mother, who inherited it from her mother, who got it from her mother, and so on. Everybody has mtDNA, but men cannot pass their mtDNA on to their children. The result is that genetic analysis of mtDNA will reveal a genetic signature that corresponds only to one's direct maternal line of ancestry.