Background
Welcome to the R1b-U106-L1 or null439 Project
"null439" is a term used for when Family Tree DNA is unable to obtain a value for the marker DYS439 due a harmless SNP mutation (called "L1" or "S26") at position 13025258 of the Y chromosome. When this occurs, FTDNA indicates a null439 with a
blue 12 on FTDNA public pages and Group Administrator Pages or a
blue asterisk beside 439 on myFTDNA Y-DNA pages with a note that
"your sample produced no result for DYS 439," as shown in the figure below:
The L1/S26 SNP near DYS439 appears to prevent FTDNA's primer from annealing to the Y-chromosome, thereby preventing the DNA from being amplified, sequenced, or otherwise analyzed during testing. L1/S26 is carried by about a half of one percent of R1b males. See this 2005
FTDNA null439 presentation which shows some limited details about the SNP.
SNPs are passed down from father to son, and all males with a null439 SNP descend from a common ancestor who lived within the last 5000 years. Most null439 males with known origins have roots in England or Germany (see the
News tab). All males with L1/S26 also have the SNP "
S21" (also known as "
U106") which defines the
R1b1a2a1a1a5b subclade of R1b according to the
2011 ISOGG Y0DNA Haplogroup Tree (note that the subclade was formerly referred to as R1b1b2g3, R1b1b2a1c, and R1b1c9 in previous versions of ISOGG and/or YCC trees).
If the FTDNA lab fails to detect a value at DYS439, they will test the sample two more times before declaring it to have a null value. This means very few results are misidentified as a null439 when they are not. If your Family Tree DNA report shows you have an asterisk beside DYS439, then we welcome you to join the null439 project. Click the
JOIN icon at the left of your MyFTDNA page and select the null439 project.
Go to the
Results tab to see a listing of known null439 results. Go to the
Y-Results tab to see results of Project members, but be aware this list includes interested parties who do not have the null439 SNP (as evinced by a
blue 12). Go to the
News tab for a discussion of possible null439 connections and origins.
This site was founded by - and is dedicated to -
Leo W. Little who worked with FTDNA and others exploring the NULL439 cluster and making information about it available.
UPDATE - 2010:
In 2009/2010, it was discovered by Neal Fox (co-administrator of the Fox Project and former administrator of the Null439 Project) that several members of the Null439 Project who underwent testing at 23andMe had a "no-call" at SNP rs7893044 (now called "L132"). The ancestral version of L132 is "C," and the derived version of L132 is "T." Since that time, several members of the null439 Project have purchased an L132 SNP test from Family Tree DNA. It is still unclear whether all members of the Null439 project will be derived at L132, or whether the SNP is downstream of L1.
Please contact one of the administrators for further information.
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