G-U1 Y-DNA

Carl, the match you refer to is GD 0 match at 12 markers which illustrates the low value to be placed upon 12 markers for genealogical work. You agree at 12 markers perfectly, but your markers diverge as you add markers. He does not appear as a match for you at either 25 or 37 markers so the differences exceed 2 at 25 and 4 at 37. Actually, you have 20 matches in total at 12 markers and only 4 are haplogroup G and 16 are haplogroup I. Generally, you should start looking for genealogical significance of matches at 37 markers or above. -- Roy

Roy - when reading the Big Y will i find matches to other HGs? Insignificant, but how could this be? As I learn about HG G i am almost impressed that it has survived in the big picture. Does it mutate “easier” than other groups?

Carl - the Big Y considers hundreds of STR markers and works to define your real terminal haplogroup, so any Big Y matches you have will be close neighbors to you in the genetic tree, certainly within the broad haplogroup G. With regard to your second question, I haven't seen any statistics on relative probability of mutation in the various haplogroups, so I cannot comment on that. -- Roy

Warren, I apologize for not responding sooner to your question. I have not been able to spend much time on the activity feed for the project. As I explained to Carl via email, his 42 private variants are unique among FTDNA testers at this point. It is quite likely that any full sibling of Carl will share most of those private variants with him. If so and if a Big Y test was taken, then those shared private variants would be given names and placed on the official haplotree. This would create a new branch below your current haplogroup G-Z44222 that would be for all practical purposes a family clade for you and your siblings. In any case, it will further the knowledge we have in your section of the haplotree. A Big Y test by a close relative is the most direct way to turn these private variants into named SNPs, but you won't immediately know more about how you relate to other project members because you will still be separated from them by a large number of named variants. In this case, it generally will require a Big Y test by a close relative of Carl, plus a Big Y from a more distant relative (e.g., third or fourth cousin) to create some branching. Another alternative is to simply wait for others to test hoping they will eventually share some of those private variants with Carl, but often that can be a long wait. --Regards, Roy