From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Thu Aug 10 23:04:27 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k7B54Rjb024804; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 23:04:27 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k7B54Pho001722 for ; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 23:04:25 -0600 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k7B2P1FI026512 for ; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 22:25:01 -0400 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k7B2P1Xl026511 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 22:25:01 -0400 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k7ALiZFI025952 for ; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:44:36 -0400 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k7B0Nlh4014079 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:23:47 -0600 X-Envelope-From: drewsmithtpa@gmail.com Thu Aug 10 18:23:47 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k7B0Nljb014070 for ; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:23:47 -0600 Received: from wx-out-0506.google.com (wx-out-0506.google.com [66.249.82.231]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k7B0Nkg8031420 for ; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:23:46 -0600 Received: by wx-out-0506.google.com with SMTP id t4so641303wxc for ; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:23:47 -0700 (PDT) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:from:to:subject:date:message-id:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:x-mailer:x-mimeole:thread-index:in-reply-to; b=MPv9C/EOaoBMlL8PpHzTNQYeHbQQcMLttUQ3K1l4tHXaS8BXBjQWeYHQ3E4dxgVlj82YnG4oYi0kw7j25Cx4GDz7ADzs7Kk8FjsDXqi7aLTT8OoqXwR9onWaPgcNfXvbHfgashBqD3/2md6MEUyUVBHR+nxEL/AW/2B88R6XlRM= Received: by 10.70.72.11 with SMTP id u11mr4082591wxa; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:23:46 -0700 (PDT) Received: from Drew ( [70.126.18.234]) by mx.gmail.com with ESMTP id h17sm2269630wxd.2006.08.10.17.23.45; Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:23:45 -0700 (PDT) From: "Drew Smith" To: "'GD Wells'" , Subject: RE: [ROOTS-L] A Woman's DNA Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:23:44 -0400 Message-ID: <00a801c6bcdc$6892dc80$640fa8c0@Drew> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 Thread-Index: Aca8w0zQpjMo6nRERUSYbgUpUpNaRQAFji9w In-Reply-To: <44DB66A0.00002C.03920@HOMEPC> X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com GD, First, there are two kinds of DNA: the nuclear DNA, from which we get our biological traits, and the mitochondrial DNA, which is found in the energy-producing mitochondria found in our cells. Because the mitochondria in our cells are descended from the mitochondria that were part of our mother's egg cell, the mitochondrial DNA is a copy of the mitochondrial DNA of our mother. So the mitochondrial DNA is of interest only in tracing our matrilineage (from us to our mother to her mother to *her* mother, and so on). That leaves the nuclear DNA. We get approximately 50% of that from our father, and the remainder from our mother. Of course, the exact mix of which we get from our father and which from our mother differs with each individual (otherwise, we would all be identical twins to our siblings). So most of that DNA wouldn't help us much in tracing lineage, because the mixture varies with each individual. The one exception relates to the Y-chromosome, which men have and which women do not. Since only men have one, that means that men get theirs from their own father, who got his from *his* father, and so on. If both my parents were deceased, I wouldn't know which of my parents any of my nuclear DNA came from (because it's a random mix), except for my Y-chromosome, which had to have come from my father. And because Y-chromosomes are passed from father to son, we would expect them to match surnames that pass from father to son. So the Y-chromosome I carry is a "Smith" Y-chromosome, which means that any Smith men descended from my Smith ancestor should have that same Y-chromosome. This makes Y-chromosomes useful for linking families by surname. But because women don't carry Y-chromosomes, you can't test a woman's DNA to see if she is descended from someone of a given surname. You don't carry the Donaldson Y-chromosome. If you had brothers, they would. Your father did, as would any brothers he had and any sons of those brothers. And so forth. Does that help explain the situation? Drew Smith -----Original Message----- From: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com [mailto:roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of GD Wells Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 1:04 PM To: ROOTS-M@rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] A Woman's DNA Please explain why a woman's DNA cannot be traced. My maiden name is Donaldson. That was my father's family name. Why can't the DNA start with me, go to him and on back in time? On the other side of my family, my mother was a Donaldson, no relation to my father that I have found. Why can't my DNA be taken, go back two generations and then pick up that male Donaldson ancestor and trace on back? I don't understand why not women - why only men? I have some male cousins on my mother's side of the family, but none carry the Donaldson name. I have read that the man tested has to have the last name. Is that true?? glowells@bellsouth.net