R-L21 Project

Project Background

Hello and Welcome to the R-L21 Project.

A little history:
In 2004 and 2005, two human genome samples containing a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP), designated "rs11799226", were quietly submitted to GenBank. However, it wasn't until October 8, 2008, when a small group of men received test results from a company called 23andMe and submitted them to Ann Turner and Adriano Squecco for analysis, that Dr. Thomas Krahn, a geneticist with FamilyTreeDNA, recognized that this SNP would play a significant part in the development of the R1b haplotree.

rs11799226 was dubbed "L21" by FamilyTreeDNA and "S145" by EthnoAncestry within weeks of its discovery.

Control testing in late October 2008 confirmed L21 as derived under the SNP named P312 (a.k.a. rs34276300), and ancestral to the SNP named M222 (a marker commonly attributed to descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages), and two other less significant SNPs named M37 and P66.

On November 7, 2008, L21 was added to ISOGG's 'R' Clade of the Human Phylogenetic Tree and given the hierarchical designation "R1b1b2a1b6". (That hierarchical designation has since changed due to the discovery of previously unknown SNPs upstream of L21.)

What is an SNP or Single Nucleotide Polymorphism?
An "SNP" - Single Nucleotide Polymorphism - represents a change at a single nucleotide (A=adenine, C=cytosine, G=guanine, T=thymine) on the y chromosome. In the case of L21, that change occurred at the position known as rs11799226, where we have a change to "G" from the "C" most everyone else has. You can trace our shared ancestry by using the ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy) R Tree.

The ancestry of all L21+ men, in terms of SNPs, runs like this:

M207+ . . . M173+ . . . M343+ . . . P25+ . . . P297+ . . . M269+ . . . L23+ . . . L51+ . . . P310+ . . . P312+ . . . L21+

WHO CAN JOIN:
Anyone who has received a positive result for either L21 from FamilyTreeDNA, S145 from EthnoAncestry, or a derived result (G) for rs11799226 on 23andMe's v.2 chip, and has ordered a kit from FamilyTreeDNA.

Although anyone with an L21+/S145+ result can join, we strongly recommend that a member have the full panoply of Y Haplogroup R SNP testing by means of Family Tree DNA's Deep Clade-R test and/or extended deep clade testing. The SNP M222 is downstream of L21, for one thing, so it is impossible to know whether or not an L21+ individual is also M222+ unless he has been tested for that SNP.

HOW TO JOIN:
First you MUST have an L21/S145+ result and you must be an FTDNA customer.

To join the R-L21 Project, just click on the following link and follow the instructions:

http://www.familytreedna.com/group-join-request.aspx?group=R-L21Plus

Or just click on "REQUEST TO JOIN THIS GROUP" on the upper left side of this page and follow the instructions.

Although you only require a minimum of 12 yDNA STR markers either from FTDNA, the NGS Genographic Project, or EthnoAncestry, it is preferable that in order to maximize your contribution to the project, you should upgrade your yDNA STRs to a minimum of 37 if not 67 markers as soon as you are able.

If you have also tested P312/S116/rs34276300+: Please consider joining the R-P312 and Subclades Project.

If you have tested L21- but are P312/S116/rs34276300+: You should definitely join the R-P312 and Subclades Project rather than this one.

If you have also tested M222+: Please consider joining the R-M222 Haplogroup Project as well.

To join the R-L21 Project Yahoo discussion group, click on the link below. Remember that joining our Yahoo discussion group is not the same thing as joining the R-L21 Plus Project.

Click to join RL21Project