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WHAT CAN MTDNA TESTS SHOW?

mtDNA ‘ugly duckling’ of DNA testing

mtDNA holds genetic clues about our direct maternal line back tens of thousands of years. Yet when it comes to the closer details that we require for a useful genealogical timeframe, it doesn’t have the clear benefits that autosomal and Y DNA testing can offer. What can we learn with an mtDNA test? John Cleary explains.

In some ways mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the ugly duckling of DNA testing. It is easy to see how autosomal tests like the Ancestry, MyHeritage, 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA Family Finder tests can help solve genealogical problems, while FamilyTreeDNA’s Y DNA tests remain popular for surname lineage research.

But surnames tend to change every generation up the allmaternal line and the slow rate of mutations makes applying mtDNA tests in genealogy research challenging. Many people have tested their mtDNA only to find their closest matches look unrecognisable, often coming from quite unexpected parts of the world.

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Family Tree
May 2025
VISUALIZZA IN NEGOZIO

Altri articoli in questo numero


Editorial
Researching & remembering our family heroes
V E Day 80 marks eight decades since
INSIDE THIS ISSUE...
DNA testing company 23andMe files for bankruptcy
On 23 March 2025, DNA testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in a bid to sell the company. Matt Hill repor ts
Who Do You Think You Are? celebrities revealed for 2025
The celebrities for this year’s series of the popular genealogy TV show Who Do You Think You Are? have been revealed and include actor Andrew Garfield, comedian Diane Morgan, and singer Will Young. Matt Hill reports
New family history courses & guides
Publishers of Family Tree are proud to announce 2 new courses and 2 new publications this spring
DNA Club news
DNA Club news reporter Karen Evans shares news from the genealogy scene
New WW1 military family history research service
With the majority of WW1 soldiers’ records destroyed, many family historians find this an insurmountable research obstacle. Military family historian Graham Caldwell has launched a new research service to circumvent this problem. Helen Tovey reports
Finding our ancestors' DEATH RECORDS
This month, Family Tree Academy tutor David Annal guides us through the range of sources that may record an ancestor’s death, and finds that for the family historian, death can be the beginning of a new research journey
VICTORY IN EUROPE (VE)
BUT, NOT YET VICTORY OVER JAPAN (VJ)
FOUND & Lost
Still trying to piece together the mysterious Tonges, her mum’s dad’s side of the family, Gill Shaw makes discoveries that hint at more family tragedy
TRACING SCHOOLCHILDREN what the records can reveal
Genealogist Fiona Gray-Davies introduces us to the variety of old school records available, and demonstrates the wealth of detail they can give us about not just the children but our teacher ancestors, too, in the late 1800s and early 1900s
Unhappy beginnings ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN IN THE PARISH RECORDS
Researcher Wayne Shepheard looks at the tragic – and occasionally redemptive – stories of illegitimate and foundling children to be found in the parish registers
VE DAY 80 SPECIAL: Planning a WW2 battlefield research trip
Historian and genealogist Dr Dean Kirby shows how you can use military records to plan a research trip to Europe’s Second World War battlefields
DNA DO YOU REALLY NEED TO TEST A SIBLING?
Karen Evans considers herself very lucky when it comes to family DNA testing. Although all her grandparents were deceased before direct-to-consumer testing became a thing, both her parents were happy to join in with her DNA discoveries and so were all their siblings. And this creates an interesting question – do we really need to test a sibling? Karen’s going to show you why the answer is a big fat yes!
Photo corner
Costume historian and photo dating expert Jayne Shrimpton shares advice to help you date your unidentified pictures and so put names to the faces of the past
Book review
A Family History Manual
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Searching for clues in the 16th century: seeking Pawlets
Help! Detailed documentation about my grandfather’s WWI service is missing
Figure 1 Q I ’m an experienced
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EDITORIAL Editor - Helen Tovey helen.t@family-tree.co.uk Editorial
The value of verifying oral history
Diane Lindsay was very much alive at the first VE Day, 1945, but for her family it was a year that held many sadnesses. This issue she casts her mind back to that ‘After the war’ chapter of family history, dusts off her memories – and Googles to check out their accuracy
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ancestry
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ANCESTRY
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