DNA

Y-DNA result for a sixth-generation descendant of William Ripley of Maccan, Nova Scotia (b 1769/1774), predicted haplotype: R1b1b2*. ¹

* Haplogroup R1b (DYS390=21 or 22). [This haplotype exhibits the basic marker values 14-12-22-11-13-13, which puts it two steps away] from the Atlantic Modal Haplotype.

The Heyer study of 1997 recorded a mutation rate of zero for DYS390 and DYS393. Although the DYS390 marker has not exhibited a mutation rate as consistently low as DYS393 in other studies, the results of the Heyer study suggest that it is a relatively stable marker. As such, particular values of DYS390 may be acquired less often by random mutation, and therefore may be more likely to reflect a shared ancestry among the haplotypes that exhibit them. The sense we get from these AMH variations is that they occur predominantly among the Celts of continental Europe and their Teutonic brethren along the North Sea coast. (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/gallgaedhil/haplo_r1b_dys390_21_or_22.htm)

Comparative results for Ripley

DYS is short for DNA Y-chromosome Segment, and is used to designate a segment of DNA on the Y chromosome where a sequence of nucleotides repeats. These sequences are known as short tandem repeats (STRs), and are called markers in genealogical DNA testing. The possible variations of repeats at a DYS marker are known as alleles. (http://www.filepie.us/?title=Haplotype)

Unlike other chromosomes, Y chromosomes do not come in pairs. Every human male has only one copy of that chromosome. This means that there is no lottery as to which copy to inherit, and also (for most of the chromosome) no shuffling between copies by recombination; so, unlike autosomal haplotypes, there is therefore effectively no randomisation of the Y-chromosome haplotype between generations, and a human male should largely share the same Y chromosome as his father, give or take a few mutations. (http://www.filepie.us/?title=Haplotype).

In particular, the Y-DNA that is the numbered results of a Y-DNA genealogical DNA test should match, barring mutations. Within genealogical and popular discussion, this is sometimes referred to as the "DNA signature" of a particular male human, or of his paternal bloodline.

R Haplogroup, defined by mutation M207, originated as a clan over 40,000 years ago in central Asia from Haplogroup K. R split into two groups, with R1 (mutation M173) moving northwest and then west into Europe and R2 (mutation M343) moving south into the Indian sub-continent. R1b haplogroup, defined by mutation M343, arrived in Europe around 40,000 years ago. R1b is thought to be the direct descendant of Cro-Magnon -- the oldest Homo Sapiens settlers in Europe, who first arrived in Europe 40,000 years ago and superseded Homo neanderthalensis, which disappeared around 30,000 years ago. R1b expanded west through northern Italy and on into France and then south into Spain. During the extreme severity of the last Ice Age, R1b took refuge in the warmer areas of Spain and Italy. After the last Ice Age when the weather began warming up about 10,000 years ago, the refuge R1b population is believed to have expanded north rapidly along the west European coast and throughout Europe as humans re-colonized Europe. R1b is now by far the most common haplogroup in Western Europe, subdivided into numerous subclades, and reaching over 90% of the population in some parts of western France, northern Spain or Ireland. The highest R1b concentration in Western Europe is found in the Basque Country of northern Spain, where 98 % of native men have this R1b haplogroup. Current inhabitants of Britain and Ireland are closely related to the Basques, reflecting their common origin in the Spanish refugial area. R1b1b2, defined by mutation M269, is the most common European sub-haplogroup and contains the Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype. (http://genforum.genealogy.com/ruscoe/messages/257.html)

All members of Y-group R1b can trace their Y-chromosomes back to one man who is thought to have lived about 35,000 years ago. This man may have belonged to a group of hunter-gatherers, who were among the first modern humans to colonize Europe. Such groups likely took refuge in Northwestern Spain during the last Ice-Age, when most other parts of Europe were uninhabitable. When the Ice-Age waned, between 10 and 15 thousand years ago, the descendants of these groups are thought to have expanded into previously uninhabitable regions of Europe. Today, members of Y-group R1b are primarily found in European populations, where it is the most common Y-group. In Europe, the highest concentration of Y-group R1b members is in the west, in the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula, where it accounts for 60 to 70 percent of all males. The frequency of Y-group R1b members decreases as we move further east within Europe and becomes negligible east of Central and South Asia. (http://demo.decodeme.com/ancestry/male-line-info/R1b)

DYS 391=12 occurs in 5% of the R1b1 population. (http://meekdna.com/Discussion_C.html)

It's all about the rare DYS 391=12. Only 5% of R1b have that value. That, and the fact that we have the same last name, makes it look pretty likely that we're related. But I would like to compare on more markers to be sure, and also to better gauge the timeframe when our lines diverged. (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BRADFORD-DNA/2006-01/1137698370)

Most of the present-day European males with the M343 marker also have the P25 and M269 markers. These markers define the R1b1b2 subclade. This subgroup is believed by some to have existed before the last Ice Age and has been associated with the Aurignacian culture[3] (32,000 - 21,000 BC). Although the precise route of the M269 marker is not known, it has been theorized to originate in Central Asia/South Central Siberia. Archeological evidence supports the view of the arrival of Aurignacian culture to Anatolia from Europe during the Upper Paleolithic rather than from the Iranian plateau[6]. It could have entered prehistoric Europe from the area of Ukraine/Belarus or Central Asia (Kazakhstan) via the coasts of the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. It is considered widespread in Europe throughout the Paleolithic already before the last Ice Age.[9] Traditionally this culture is associated with the Cro-Magnon people, the first modern humans to enter Europe. However, this view has recently been challenged.[10] The people of the Aurignacian culture were the first documented human artists, making sophisticated cave paintings. Famous sites include Lascaux in France, Cueva de las Monedas in Spain and Valley of Foz Côa in Portugal (the largest open-air site in Europe). The glaciation of the ice age intensified, and the continent became increasingly uninhabitable. The genetic diversity narrowed through founder effects and population bottlenecks, as the population became limited to a few coastal refugia in Southern Europe. The present-day population of R1b in Western Europe are believed to be the descendants of a refugium in the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain), where the R1b1c haplogroup may have achieved genetic homogeneity. As conditions eased with the Allerød Oscillation in about 12,000 BC, descendants of this group migrated and eventually recolonised all of Western Europe, leading to the dominant position of R1b in variant degrees from Iberia to Scandinavia, so evident in haplogroup maps. A second R1b1b2 population, reflected in a somewhat different distribution of haplotypes of the more rapidly varying Y-STR markers, appear to have survived alongside other haplogroups in Eastern Europe. However, they do not have the same dominance that R1b has in Western Europe. Instead the most common haplogroup in Eastern Europe is haplogroup R1a1. Note that haplogroup R1b and haplogroup R1a first existed at very different times. The mutations that characterize haplogroup R1b occurred 30,000 years bp, whereas the mutations that characterize haplogroup R1a occurred 10,000 years bp. (Note that in earlier literature the M269 marker, rather than M343, was used to define the R1b haplogroup. Then, for a time [from 2003 to 2005] what is now R1b1b2 was designated R1b3. From 2005 to 2008 it was R1b1c. This shows how nomenclature can evolve as new markers are discovered and then investigated). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Swid/Sandbox)

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