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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2004-05 > 1083783483


From: Whitney Keen <>
Subject: odd mtdna
Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 15:02:40 -0400


Hi all,

Whitney Keen wrote,
>My father (the space alien) has very odd mtdna. First of all he does not
>have the mutation at 519. Now that I have gotten his HVR1 and HVR2
>Mutations, Bennett Greenspan tells me that they still cannot place him
>in a haplogroup. So to debbie with only one mutation, welcome to the
>land of the weird.
>His mutations as follows:

>HVR1 16172C
> 16223T
> 16256T
> 16339G

>HVR2 73G
> 263G
> 309.1C
> 315.1C

The FIRST and primary thing that should jump out at us in this
haplotype: the presence of 16223T. As I've tried a number of times to
make clear, this is a unique dividing line between the super-group "R"
and all other mtDNA haplogroups.

If a person has 16223T, it is extremely unlikely that they would belong
to any of the haplogroups in R:
that means, in all probability they would not be H, V, U, K, J, or T.

Even though it's unlikely, it does occasionally happen, through a
back-mutation. So that is a small possibility that must be kept in mind.

You have all the other haplogroups in the world to choose from.

There are three or four small Western haplogroups outside of R: W, I,
X, and the tiny N1b.
There are a few more tiny N1 clades, which are mostly Middle Eastern/SW
Asian.

The other two major divisions are M, which is found in Asia, including
Central Asia, India, and Pakistan; and L, which is African. Within each
of these there are a good number of haplogroups and clades. There are
small numbers of M and L haplotypes scattered throughout Europe.

Given all of this, I wouldn't put my vote in for Whit's hypothesis that
your father could be in V. Not at all likely, in my opinion.

I do agree that this is a very unusual haplotype. I haven't seen any
others with that 16339G. The 16256T is pretty common in various
haplogroups, but if you have typed it right, 16339G is super-rare. Of
course, there are a lot of places I haven't had time to look. If one
really persevered one might find a reference, but nothing turned up in
Google, for example. It wasn't actually 16399, was it? 16399G is a
known mutation that shows up mostly in Asia, but also has been seen in
the the West.

I hope FTDNA gets some RFLP tests done, and manages to classify it for
you, that way. Good luck!

Bonnie

______________________________

Dear List:

Thank you Bonnie for pointing out that I wrote one mutation wrong. It
is 16399G, not 16339G. My dyslexia -- apologies to everyone. So, with
the correction, my father's ancestry may be from Asia? It is still
apparently somewhat unusual, so if anyone can place it, I would be
interested.

Whitney Keen



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