ADKINS / ATKINS Y-chromosome DNA Project
REQUEST TO JOIN THIS GROUP

BOOKMARK
THIS PAGE

FAQ about DNA
testing and genealogy
by genetics

Contribute to the Surname Project General Fund
Group Administrator: Ed Crump edcrump@coughlinsaunders.org



Project Surnames:
AdkinsAllgoodAtkinsAtkinson
CaudleWeakland


Project Background:
WELCOME TO THE ADKINS/ATKINS(and variant spellings),DNA PROJECT

When a paper trail to the past is missing, what is suggested by surname alone may be misleading. The name no doubt originated more than once, spellings change, and around 2% of each generation acquires a surname with genetics from another. Yet genetics has constancy, and genealogists can now exploit DNA to crack such brick wall problems. Robotic technology has made this new tool affordable.

If you wish to compare your surname DNA to other Adkins/Atkins lines, the sample must come from a MALE. We can also display mtDNA results comparison site for Adkins/Atkins, but be aware this is generally used to trace maternal lines.

A GENEALOGICAL GENETICS PRIMER:
The Y Chromosome is unique to men. Made of coils upon coils of DNA, it is the only chromosome passed to the next generation without being hopelessly splice-mixed with the spouse chromosomes; hence Male Y chromosome tests are used to trace surname lines.

DNA means DeoxyriboNucleic Acid, an organic chemistry term for a spiral ladder molecule containing our genetic code.

Genetic Code is in the ladder rungs made of complementary coupled pairs of amino acids. When the coupling splits open, the revealed sequence of amino acids is our genetic code.

Amino Acids: Adenine (A) couples with thymine (T). Guanine (G) couples with Cytosine (C). This results in ladder rungs of T-A, A-T, G-C, or C-G. Rarely the wrong amino acid pair is copied into position. This type of mutation is called an SNP.

SNP means Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, being exceedingly rare they are useful in tracing genetic branches of the human tree back 10s of thousands of years ago. SNPs can be tested to discover your Haplogroup.

Haplogroups are people with common long-term genetics. They sit on the same branch of the human tree.

Haplotype is the term used for any individuals unique sequence of STR markers, akin to a final twig or leaf on the tree.

STR stands for Short Tandem Repeat. The Y chromosome has a lot of nonsense DNA, including hundreds of places where the code repeats itself as in, GATAGATAGATAGATA etc. About once in 500 generations the number of repeats increases or decreases. This is far more frequent than SNP mutations, making STRs useful in genealogy. DNA tests count and report these repeats at up to 67 different DYS Markers. Testing 67 markers brings the total odds of a mutation in each generation to about 14%.

DYS Marker stands for D-NA of the Y- chromosome in S-hort tandem repeats. Each marker is numerically identified such as DYS 439 so as to know which STRs were counted. The more DYS Marker counts you match to another individual, the higher the probability of a recent common ancestor.

MRCA is the acronym for Most Recent Common Ancestor. TMRCA is Time back to the Most Recent Common ancestor. This time is given in years or generations.


Family Tree DNA - Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd.
World Headquarters
1445 North Loop West, Suite 820 Houston, Texas 77008, USA
Phone: (713) 868-1438 | Fax: (832) 201-7147
Contact Us
All Contents Copyright 2001-2004 Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd.
Project Background, Goals, Results and News are copyright of the specific Surname Project