National Geographic - The Genographic Project

The National Geographic Project is a multiyear research initiative launched in 2005. The Geno 2.0 Next Generation test kit enables members of the public to participate in the Genographic Project while learning fascinating insights about their own ancestry. The Geno 2.0 Next Generation test examines a unique collection of nearly 300,000 DNA identifiers, called “markers,” that have been specifically selected to provide ancestry-relevant information.

I received a DNA testing kit from National Geographic's Genographic Project for a Christmas present. After carefully following the instructions, I dropped my saliva/cheek swab sample into the mail at the end of December 2016.  After many weeks of checking on the status, I received my results in March 2017.

Identified through mtDNA testing, my maternal haplogroup is J1C5 and is shared by 0.3% of all participants in the Genographic Project. I am also 1.1% Neanderthal compared to a project average of 1.3%.

My Regional Ancestry

My DNA results were then compared to the reference populations currently in the Genographic database to estimate which of these populations was most similar to me in terms of genetic markers. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I belong to these groups, but that these groups were a similar genetic match, and can therefore be used as a guide to help determine why I may have a certain result. This information is determined from the entire genome, so it reflects both parents’ information, going back six generations, or more. Results are a mixture of recent (past six generations) and ancient patterns established over thousands of years, so it is possible to see surprising matches!

Below is the description of my results shown as a chart and also mapped.

What Your Results Mean

My DNA results were then compared to the reference populations currently in the Genographic database to estimate which of these populations was most similar to me in terms of genetic markers. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I belong to these groups, but that these groups were a similar genetic match, and can therefore be used as a guide to help determine why I may have a certain result. Remember, this is a mixture of recent (past six generations) and ancient patterns established over thousands of years, so it is possible to see surprising matches!

Your First Reference Population: British (England)

This reference population is based on people living in England, in the United Kingdom. The dominant Great Britain and Ireland and smaller Scandinavian components reflect distinct remnants from early settlers in northern Europe, hunter-gatherers who arrived there more than 30,000 years ago. The Western and Central and Southern European percentages likely arrived later, first with the spread of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East over the past 8,000 years, and much later by the reach of the Roman Empire. English populations today retain links to both the early Europeans and later migrants.

How Does it Work:

As decscribed on the Genographic Project's website, deep ancestry is identified through the analysis of two small and distinct segments of DNA known as mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) exists in every male and female alive today. It is a portion of DNA inherited strictly maternally. So your mother got it from her mother, who got it from her mother, who got it from her mother, and so forth, forming a deep and direct branch of strictly maternal ancestry. Because mothers pass on their mtDNA to both sons and daughters, the Genographic Project is able to identify a maternal haplogroup for every Genographic participant.

The Y chromosome, on the other hand, only exists in males: Each man inherited his Y chromosome from his father, who got it from his father, who got it from his father, and so forth, forming another deep branch of direct ancestry. However, since Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) only exists in males, the Genographic Project is currently unable to identify a paternal haplogroup from a female’s DNA sample. Female participants eager to learn about the paternal ancestry would need their father, paternal uncle, or a full male sibling to submit a sample.

Regional Ancestry

Based on their different destinations, humans migrating out of Africa developed regional affiliations over time. Modern-day populations from around the world carry particular blends of regional affiliations. These affiliations are present as patterns of DNA and are visible today in the variety of physical traits humans possess. Scientists have identified typical individuals, genetically speaking, from different parts of the globe and defined them as “reference populations.” 

The Genographic Project compares a participant's DNA results to 60 geographic and ethnic populations and calculates which two of these populations are most similar to a participant in terms of the genetic markers they carry.

Results are determined by analyzing small bits of DNA scattered across the entire genome. This portion of your ancestry comes equally from both parents, all four grandparents, all eight great-grandparents, and so forth. Unlike mtDNA and Y-DNA this portion of your DNA gets scrambled every successive generation, so what can be learned from it is not so much your deep history, but it does set of percentages that represents a rough estimate of how much DNA you share with various groups around the world.

The percentage of your DNA that comes from each of your ancestors drops by half as you go back through the generations—you inherited half of your genome from your mother and half from your father but only a quarter from each of your grandparents. Because of this, the ability to see regional ancestry decreases with each preceding generation. If, say, your great-grandmother (three generations removed) was 100 percent Native American, that would show up as roughly 12 percent of your DNA. The rough limit of the Genographic Project's results is six generations, or 64 ancestors, each of whose contribution is less than 2 percent. For this reason, the Genographic Project doesn’t identify regional percentages that are less than 2 percent in results, even when they do exist.

Description of The Regions in My Results:

Great Britain and Ireland

This component of your ancestry is associated with the western European islands of Great Britain and Ireland, but traces can also be found along the northern and western coasts of continental Europe. As modern humans first entered Europe, this part of the world was uninhabitable and covered in ice sheets. As the ice sheets retreated, settlers moved to the islands. The earliest settlers likely survived on fishing, but farming eventually reached the islands in the past several thousand years. Stone monuments (e.g., Stonehenge) are associated with some of the islands’ earliest cultures. Historically, these islands were populated by Celts and later marked the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire, thus genetic connections still exist between these regions. Yet it was Britain’s global empire during the 18th and 19th centuries that helped spread this component, as well as the English language, throughout the world.

Today, this ancestral component is seen in people of British and Irish descent, including those throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and most other former British colonies.

Western and Central Europe

This component of your ancestry is associated with a prehistoric European population that arose from a hybrid of different migrant groups. The region extends from northern Spain east through France, the lowlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Prehistorically, this region of Europe was home to Neanderthals, and it was possibly here where your modern human ancestors mixed with your Neanderthal ancestors as the two related species met 40,000 years ago. Historically, this region saw continuous human migration from the north, west, south, and east, which is evident from the dozens of distinct mitochondrial DNA lineages that exist there today.

This genetic component of your ancestry is seen in most people of European ancestry, but it’s highest among those with Spanish, French, Dutch, Swiss, Austrian, German, and northern Italian ancestry.

Eastern Europe

This component of your ancestry originates in the plains that extend from the Danube River and the Black Sea north to the Baltic Sea and east to the Volga River and the Ural Mountains of Russia. Your ancestors who lived in this region thousands of years ago were likely hunters and gatherers who gradually adopted agriculture from their neighbors to the south and west. Some scientists believe that it was in this region of the world where horses were first domesticated.

Today, this part of the world is associated with Slavic and Baltic cultures, as well as Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, and German peoples.

Scandinavia

This component of your ancestry is associated with the Nordic regions of Europe. This part of Europe was the last to be settled since it was covered in glaciers for thousands of years longer than the lands to the south. As the name states, this region is associated with the peninsula of Scandinavia and its adjacent regions of Iceland and Denmark. Your prehistoric Scandinavian ancestors most likely survived from hunting, gathering, and fishing, and it wasn’t until a few thousand years ago that farming first reached the area. Historically, Scandinavia was the home of Vikings, who were known to voyage south and west and interacting, both peacefully and violently, with their neighbors in Great Britain and central Europe.

This genetic component of your ancestry is seen in people of Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish, and Danish ancestry, although it also occurs in people from Britain and continental Europe.

Arabia

This component of your ancestry is associated with the region around the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Caspian Sea. This region was the first stepping-stone in modern humans’ migrations out of Africa. Prehistorically, Arabia is considered to be the earliest site of plant domestication and is also home to some of the oldest known buildings, and likewise the oldest known evidence of writing and possibly the earliest civilizations. Historically, the region saw continuous movement of groups for tens of millennia. One of the largest was the growth of Islam, centered in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

Today, this ancestral component occurs at highest frequency in people from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq. Because of its importance geographically and culturally, this component is also seen in North and East Africa, parts of Europe, and to the east in Iran and Afghanistan.