About us
mtDNA Haplogroup I
Descendants of 'Iris'
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hello! You are invited to join this project if you have mtDNA test results in the FamilyTreeDNA system with assignment to mtDNA Haplogroup I.
===========================================================
Your Privacy:
Be assured that our project fully respects your privacy. The project NEVER shares your name, email, or family tree, and your mtDNA coding-region test results are NEVER made public by joining this or any other FTDNA project. (A very limited set of data CAN be voluntarily made viewable, but only if you change a designated setting in your account that otherwise defaults as private. Also, you are free to enable and disable the setting whenever you want.)
===========================================================
Introduction to Haplogroup I:
Haplogroup I is a West Eurasian branch of the human mtDNA family tree and is relatively rare in the population. It is a downstream branch (subclade) of the older macro-haplogroup N and is a subclade of N1a1b. In areas where Haplogroup I is found, it is typically seen at a frequency range of 2%-4%. There are some locations with higher frequencies, including a few isolated populations that exceed 10%. This is seen among: (a) the Lemkos in the Carpathian Mountains at 11.3%,1 (b) the inhabitants of Krk Island in the Adriatic Sea at 11.3%,1 and (c) two Cushitic tribes: the Rendilles and El Molos at 15-20% who are migrants from Ethiopia and currently live in Northern Kenya.2 (See references in last section of page)
Research indicates that, in ancient times, Haplogroup I occurred at higher-than-usual levels among certain populations of Vikings and Danes. The average frequency rate was 13% from the Iron Age to Medieval times.
3,4 (See references in last section of page)
===========================================================
Subclades (Downstream Branches) of Haplogroup I:
An ongoing goal of our project is to identify and track the subclades of Haplogroup I that come to light as more and more people get full-sequence mtDNA testing. For years, the official published mtDNA tree was the PhyloTree, which utilized mtDNA data that had been submitted to GenBank (an archive of genetic data used by researchers worldwide). Our project was instrumental in the identification of a vast number of subclades in Haplogroup I as hundreds of members with novel variants made their data available to researchers at GenBank. The PhyloTree's final update was published in 2016, and for the subsequent nine years, the project tracked and proposed tentative subclade categories for our members, as hundreds of subclades were evident within the project but not formally identified.
===========================================================
Introduction to Haplogroup I:
Haplogroup I is a West Eurasian branch of the human mtDNA family tree and is relatively rare in the population. It is a downstream branch (subclade) of the older macro-haplogroup N and is a subclade of N1a1b. In areas where Haplogroup I is found, it is typically seen at a frequency range of 2%-4%. There are some locations with higher frequencies, including a few isolated populations that exceed 10%. This is seen among: (a) the Lemkos in the Carpathian Mountains at 11.3%,1 (b) the inhabitants of Krk Island in the Adriatic Sea at 11.3%,1 and (c) two Cushitic tribes: the Rendilles and El Molos at 15-20% who are migrants from Ethiopia and currently live in Northern Kenya.2 (See references in last section of page)
Research indicates that, in ancient times, Haplogroup I occurred at higher-than-usual levels among certain populations of Vikings and Danes. The average frequency rate was 13% from the Iron Age to Medieval times.
3,4 (See references in last section of page)
===========================================================
Subclades (Downstream Branches) of Haplogroup I:
An ongoing goal of our project is to identify and track the subclades of Haplogroup I that come to light as more and more people get full-sequence mtDNA testing. For years, the official published mtDNA tree was the PhyloTree, which utilized mtDNA data that had been submitted to GenBank (an archive of genetic data used by researchers worldwide). Our project was instrumental in the identification of a vast number of subclades in Haplogroup I as hundreds of members with novel variants made their data available to researchers at GenBank. The PhyloTree's final update was published in 2016, and for the subsequent nine years, the project tracked and proposed tentative subclade categories for our members, as hundreds of subclades were evident within the project but not formally identified.
So, after waiting nine long years for a formal update, it was thrilling news in late February 2025 when FTDNA released its beta Mitotree--an extensive update to the mtDNA tree--that will be periodically updated! The team behind the Mitotree is FTDNA's Million Mito Project, which used the PhyloTree as a starting point but then reconstructed the mtDNA tree incorporating a vast amount of new data that had been accumulating for years. The team is to be commended for an absolutely monumental accomplishment!
Project members with mtFull-Sequence test results in the system at the time of the Mitotree's release now have updated (or reconfirmed) haplogroup labels representing their most refined subclade identified to date. However, some restructuring of the tree is possible and could be seen in an upcoming update.
===========================================================
With the expanded branching on the Mitotree--that reveals more refined and younger subclades--it is now more valuable than ever--to enter the country of origin (if known) for your earliest-known direct maternal ancestor--documenting it in a designated spot within your account. This is for the female ancestor in the line of your mother's mother's mother, as far back as you know, as she is the one whose mtDNA was passed down to you. If you know the country of origin, entering it in the designated spot within your FTDNA account is important for the study of your subclade as the country will be noted on the Mitotree as an ancestral location of your branch. (For Americans, this is her family's pre-immigration country of origin.) If you do not know this information, perhaps others in your subclade will contribute that data for the benefit of research. Steps to access the page for entering the data are listed below.
Project members with mtFull-Sequence test results in the system at the time of the Mitotree's release now have updated (or reconfirmed) haplogroup labels representing their most refined subclade identified to date. However, some restructuring of the tree is possible and could be seen in an upcoming update.
===========================================================
Your Earliest-Known Direct Maternal Ancestor's County of Origin
Enhances the Study of Your Subclade & the Value of mtDNA Matching:
With the expanded branching on the Mitotree--that reveals more refined and younger subclades--it is now more valuable than ever--to enter the country of origin (if known) for your earliest-known direct maternal ancestor--documenting it in a designated spot within your account. This is for the female ancestor in the line of your mother's mother's mother, as far back as you know, as she is the one whose mtDNA was passed down to you. If you know the country of origin, entering it in the designated spot within your FTDNA account is important for the study of your subclade as the country will be noted on the Mitotree as an ancestral location of your branch. (For Americans, this is her family's pre-immigration country of origin.) If you do not know this information, perhaps others in your subclade will contribute that data for the benefit of research. Steps to access the page for entering the data are listed below.
To access the data-entry page & for guidance on what to enter:
(1) Log into your FTDNA account. (If you have never entered your ancestor"s data before, you may see a prompt and ink to click on that will take you to the page.)
(2) Click on your name in the upper right of your FTDNA page, which will give you a drop-down menu of options.
(3) Click on "Account Settings," which opens a page with more options.
(4) On the row of options near the top of the page, click on 'Genealogy."
(4) On the row of options near the top of the page, click on 'Genealogy."
(5) Click on "Earliest Known Ancestors," which opens the data-entry page. This page is intended to document information specifically about your earliest-known direct paternal ancestor and direct maternal ancestor. After scrolling down to the maternal ancestor section, you will see these three data-entry spots:
(6) "Name and Birth/Death Date". . . There is an entry line up to 50 characters/spaces in length for your ancestor's data. What you enter here will be visible to your mtDNA matches. The page suggests entering your ancestor's name, birth year, and death year, and you may enter that information if you have it; however--as you fill out this line of information--keep in mind that, for mtDNA, your ancestor's location is usually the most important piece of information to include on that line. Also, consider how a name with no place or date is not very useful because (a) many people have the same names, (b) women's last names change in each generation; (c) without a place, the ancestor could be from any of a long list of different countries; and (d) without a date, she could have lived at any point during the last several hundred years. Your matches will not know how to gauge likelihood of a connection if the ancestor could be from any of a dozen countries and could have lived at any point between the 1500s and 1900s., making it hard to assign much meaning to a name by itself. So, if you can make room on the data-entry line, it is great to document your ancestor's earliest known location, and an estimated birth date is far better than no date.
(7) "Country of Origin" . . . This spot has a drop-down menu (list) of countries for you to choose from. If you happen to know your ancestor's country of origin, it can be a key piece of data for the study of your subclade. For Americans, this would be the pre-immigration country of your direct maternal line.
(8) "Location" . . . For this spot, you can enter a specific location (including a county or town), and the system will usually be able to convert it into the place's coordinates (latitude and longitude). This information is used for the project's feature "MtDNA Member Distribution Map" that you can read about in the next section.
(9) Save the information.
For those without knowledge of their direct maternal ancestry, they can check the box for "I don't know this information." If that applies to you, do not worry. Perhaps you will discover information about this ancestor at a later date. In the meantime, perhaps you can benefit from data entered by others in your subclade.
===========================================================
Sharing Coding-Region Data with Project Administrators:
In your account settings, under Project Preferences, you have the option of sharing your mtDNA Coding-Region data with project administrators. The coding region is an area of the mtDNA sequence that contains important subclade-defining variants. If you enable the setting, we may be able to project whether your current subclade assignment is likely to be final (no further downstream branches) or whether you can expect further downstream branches that may lead to a more refined subclade determination. If you enable permission, the data is only visible to administrators on password-protected pages and never shared with anyone.
In your account settings, under Project Preferences, you have the option of sharing your mtDNA Coding-Region data with project administrators. The coding region is an area of the mtDNA sequence that contains important subclade-defining variants. If you enable the setting, we may be able to project whether your current subclade assignment is likely to be final (no further downstream branches) or whether you can expect further downstream branches that may lead to a more refined subclade determination. If you enable permission, the data is only visible to administrators on password-protected pages and never shared with anyone.
===========================================================
Additional Project Features:
(1) Results / Members' mtDNA test results: You will only have an entry on this project page if you have specifically chosen to be included by enabling it through a setting in your "Project Preferences." As noted earlier, you can enable and disable permission whenever you wish. The project page has entries with members' kit numbers (not names), direct-maternal ancestor data, and a small set of HRV1/HRV2 mtDNA variants to enable comparisons to others in a given subclade.
(2) Map / Map of group member [ancestor] locations: The mapping feature for our project allows you to view the earliest locations of fellow project members' direct maternal lines--sorted by subclades--on a world map. You can select options to view "All" or any subgroup for different displays on the map.
===========================================================
Explore Details about Your Subclade:
On your FTDNA page, under your mtDNA options, you should see a link to "Discover Haplogroup Reports." On that page, you have many report options to choose from on the left side of the page. Be sure to explore the reports to see what is known thus far about your subclade, such as its history, migration route, etc.
* For more information about Haplogroup I, there are links below, and please click on the link at the top of this page for "Results."
===========================================================
Explore Details about Your Subclade:
On your FTDNA page, under your mtDNA options, you should see a link to "Discover Haplogroup Reports." On that page, you have many report options to choose from on the left side of the page. Be sure to explore the reports to see what is known thus far about your subclade, such as its history, migration route, etc.
* For more information about Haplogroup I, there are links below, and please click on the link at the top of this page for "Results."
===========================================================
Reference Links and Article Quotations:
1 Nikitin, A.; Kochkin, I.; June, C.; Willis, C.; McBain, I.; Yideiko, M.; Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variation in the Boyko, Hutsul, and Lemko Populations of the Carpathian Highlands. Human Biology: The International Journal of Population Genetics and Anthropology, 81 (1), pp. 43-58. BioOne. http://faculty.gvsu.edu/nikitin/HumBiol_09.pdf. (Published 2009 / Article accessed: August 14, 2014)
p. 43: "Genetic studies of the distribution of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups in human populations residing within the Carpathian Mountain range have been scarce. We present an analysis of mtDNA haplogroup composition of the Boykos, Hutsuls, and Lemkos, three population groups of the Carpathian highlands...." p. 49: "The Lemko sample also contained the highest frequency of haplogroup I (11.3%) in Europe, identical to that of the population of Krk Island (Croatia) in the Adriatic Sea (Pericic et al. 2005)."
===========================================================
2 National
Geographic, "Your Deep Ancestry" - "Maternal Line" - "Branch: I,"
database, Dr. Spencer Wells, The Genographic Project (https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com ) accessed August 14, 2014), mtDNA Haplogroup I. (August 14, 2014 / Account needed to view data.)
"Today, this lineage occurs in low frequency in populations throughout western Asia and Europe: Pakistan (8.7 percent), Iran (5 percent), Denmark (6 percent), and Scotland (4 percent). In Europe, recurrent migratory events likely reduced its numbers through competition, yet it is found in most European countries, often a[t] frequencies between 1 and 4 percent. In Africa, this haplogroup has been recently identified in small populations from northern Kenya (Rendille and Elmolo) in frequencies between 15 and 20%."
===========================================================
3 Melchior, L.; Kivisild, T.; Lynnerup, N.; Dissing,J. (May 28, 2008). Evidence of Authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age Skeletons Untouched by Humans for 1,000 Years. PLoS ONE 3 (5): e2214. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2386972/ (May 6, 2013)
"Among present day Scandinavians Hg I constitutes <2% [55], [56],
however, we have previously observed a markedly higher frequency
(10–20%) of Hg I in Danish Iron Age and Viking Age population samples (TableS3) [16], [21].
With the observation of Hg I for subject G6 this trend is also seen for
the Viking population sample from Galgedil. Interestingly, Hg I shows a
low frequency (1 out of 114 subjects) among other ancient populations
in Italy, Spain, Great Britain, and early central European farmers [11], [12], [43], [57]." (Melchior 2008)chior 2008)
4 Hofreiter, L.; Lynnerup, N.; Siegismund, H.; Kivisild, T.; Dissing, J. (July 30, 2010). Genetic Diversity among Ancient Nordic Populations. PLoSONE 5 (7): e11898. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2912848/ (May 6, 2013)
"The
overall occurrence of haplogroups did not deviate from extant
Scandinavians, however, haplogroup I was significantly more frequent
among the ancient Danes (average 13%) than among extant Danes and
Scandinavians (~2.5%)..."
"We have previously observed a high frequency of Hg I's among Iron Age villagers (Bøgebjerggård) and individuals from the early Christian cemetery, Kongemarken [16], [17]. Thistrend was also found for the additional sites reported here, Simonsborg, Galgedil and Riisby. The overall frequency of Hg I among the individuals from the Iron Age to the Medieval Age is 13% (7/53) compared to 2.5% for modern Danes [35]. The higher frequencies of Hg I can not be ascribed to maternal kinship, since only two individuals share the same common motif (K2and K7 at Kongemarken). Except for Skovgaarde (no Hg I's observed) frequencies range between 9% and 29% and there seems to be no trend in relation to time." (Hofreiter 2010)
===========================================================
* Additional Research Articles that Discuss the Ancient History of our Haplogroup:
Mitogenomes From Two Uncommon Haplogroups Mark Late Glacial/Postglacial Expansions From the Near East and Neolithic Dispersals Within Europe
The Arabian Cradle: Mitochondrial Relicts of the First Steps Along the Southern Route Out of Africa
===========================================================
* Excellent Summary of Information About Haplogroup I:
Eupedia: mtDNA Haplogroup I.
===========================================================
* mtDNA Data of an Egyptian Mummy Who Qualifies to Join Our Project!
MitoSearch Account Page of an Egyptian Mummy (born 402 B.C.) who belongs to mtDNA Haplogroup I2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martha Jane (Schliesser) Hicks 2013-2025
mtDNA Haplogroup I Project: Background by Martha Jane (Schliesser) Hicks is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
"We have previously observed a high frequency of Hg I's among Iron Age villagers (Bøgebjerggård) and individuals from the early Christian cemetery, Kongemarken [16], [17]. Thistrend was also found for the additional sites reported here, Simonsborg, Galgedil and Riisby. The overall frequency of Hg I among the individuals from the Iron Age to the Medieval Age is 13% (7/53) compared to 2.5% for modern Danes [35]. The higher frequencies of Hg I can not be ascribed to maternal kinship, since only two individuals share the same common motif (K2and K7 at Kongemarken). Except for Skovgaarde (no Hg I's observed) frequencies range between 9% and 29% and there seems to be no trend in relation to time." (Hofreiter 2010)
===========================================================
* Additional Research Articles that Discuss the Ancient History of our Haplogroup:
Mitogenomes From Two Uncommon Haplogroups Mark Late Glacial/Postglacial Expansions From the Near East and Neolithic Dispersals Within Europe
The Arabian Cradle: Mitochondrial Relicts of the First Steps Along the Southern Route Out of Africa
===========================================================
* Excellent Summary of Information About Haplogroup I:
Eupedia: mtDNA Haplogroup I.
===========================================================
* mtDNA Data of an Egyptian Mummy Who Qualifies to Join Our Project!
MitoSearch Account Page of an Egyptian Mummy (born 402 B.C.) who belongs to mtDNA Haplogroup I2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martha Jane (Schliesser) Hicks 2013-2025
mtDNA Haplogroup I Project: Background by Martha Jane (Schliesser) Hicks is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.