AncestryDNA’s Genetic Communities are Finally Here!



http://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2017/03/28/ancestrydnas-genetic-communities-are-finally-here/

Famous R1b individuals

Famous R1b individuals

R1b-L11 branch

The Adams Surname Y-DNA Project compared the Y-DNA of 15 families that have an oral history of being related to the US Presidents John Adams (second president of the United States) and his son John Quincy Adams (6th president). All the men tested share the same haplotype that falls into the S6849 (aka FGC2389) subclade, downstream of R1b-S1200.

R1b-U106 branch (Germanic)

Larmuseau et al. (2013) tested the Y-DNA of three living members of the House of Bourbon, one descending from Louis XIII of France via King Louis Philippe I, and two from Louis XIV via Philip V of Spain. They concluded that all three men share the same STR haplotype and belonged to haplogroup R1b-U106 (Z381* subclade). These results contradict earlier studies by Laluez-Fo et al. (2010), who had analysed the DNA from a handkerchief dipped in the presumptive blood of Louis XVI after his execution, as well as by Charlier et al. (2012), who tested the DNA of the severed head which allegedly belonged to Henry IV of France. Both of these studies had identified the remains as belonging to haplogroup G2a. All kings of France being descended in patrilineal line from Robert the Strong (820-866), unless a non-paternity event happened some time before Louis XIII, it can be assumed that all kings of France belonged to the same R1b-Z381 lineage. The House of Bourbon also includes all the kings of Spain from Philip V (1683-1746) to this day with King Juan Carlos, all the kings of the Two Sicilies, the grand dukes of Luxembourg since 1964, and of course all the dukes or OrlĂ©ans and the dukes of Bourbon.

The lineage of the House of Wettin was identified as R1b-U106 (Z381 > Z156 > Z305 > DF98+ branch) by the testing of two known descendants of the Wettin line by Brad Michael Little. The results confirmed that the two men, who share a common ancestor in Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, possess the same haplogroup and haplotype. Members of the House of Wettin include the Kings Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI of the United Kingdom, all the Kings of the Belgians, the Kings of Portugal from 1853 to 1910, the Kings of Bulgaria from 1887 to 1946, several Kings of Poland and Grand Dukes of Lithuania, the Margraves of Meissen from 1075 to 1423, the Electors of Saxony from 1423 to 1806, the Kings of Saxony from 1806 to 1918, and the rulers of the numerous smaller Saxon duchies.

James K. Polk (1795-1849), the 11th president of the United States, was a member of L48 subclade based on the results from the Polk-Pollock DNA Project. He was a descendant of William Polk/Pollock (c. 1700-1757).

According to the Grant DNA ProjectUlysses S. Grant (1822-1885), the 18th President of the United States and the military commander of the American Civil War, belonged to the Z159 subclade of R1b-U106, downstream of L47.

The two first human beings to have their whole genome sequenced, James D. Watson, the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, and biologist Craig Venterboth happen to be members of Y-DNA haplogroup R1b-S21 (U106), although they belong to distinct subclades (Z30, downstream of Z9 for Watson, and L45, downstream of L47 for Venter). Though both are American citizens, their patrilineal ancestors are respectively Scottish and German.

R1b-L21 branch (Atlantic Celtic)

According to the Stewart Stuart DNA Project House of Stuart, who ruled Scotland from 1371, then also England and Ireland from 1603 until 1707, belongs to the S781 branch of R1b-L21, downstream of DF13 and L744.

The Buchanan DNA Project confirmed that the 15th President of the United States, James Buchanan (1791-1868) was a descendant of the Scottish Clan Buchanan, and as such belonged to the CTS11722 subclade of R1b-L21, downstream of L1335.

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), a British Liberal politician who served a record four times as Prime Minister under Queen Victoria, belonged to R1b-L21 based on a comparison of his genealogy with the results from Gladstone DNA Project.

The analysis of his descendants's Y-chromosomal DNA confirmed that Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement, belonged to haplogroup R1b-M222.

The forensic analysis of the skeletal remains of Che Guevara (1928-1967), the Argentine Marxist revolutionary and major figure of the Cuban Revolution, revealed that he belonged to haplogroup R1b-L21.

R1b-U152 branch (Italo-Celtic)

Based on the data from the Habsburg Family Project, there is a high likelihood that the haplogroup of the House of Habsburg was R1b-U152 (L2+ branch). The Habsburg originated in the eponymous village in northern Switzerland. They first became Kings of the Romans in 1273, obtained the title of Duke of Austria. The Habsburgs provided all the Holy Roman Emperors but one from 1440 until the dissolution of the empire in 1806. The Habsburgs retained the title of Emperor of Austria, then Austro-Hungary until 1918. Their dynasty also ruled over Spain, Naples, Tuscany, Parma and Milan, among others. Check also Haplogroups of European kings and queens for mtDNA lines of many Habsburg family members.
The first President of the United States, George Washington (1732-1799) may well have belonged to the L2 subclade of U152. This deduction is based on the results from the Washington DNA Project. George Washington's ancestors hailed from Oxfordshire, and before that from Lancashire. Washington is a relatively rare surname and was originally distributed exactly in those two regions according to the 1881 survey. All project members with ancestry confirmed in those regions share the same haplotype, hinting at a common paternal ancestry.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the 16th president of the United States, appears to have belonged to R1b-S20376 (U152>L2>Z142>Z150>S20376). The Lincoln DNA Project tested several descendants from Samuel "the weaver" Lincoln, who was Abraham Lincoln's great-great-great-great-grandfather, and they all share the same haplotype.

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, could have belonged to R1b-L20, a subclade of L2, based on the numerous results from the Cleveland DNA Project.

Undetermined R1b branch

Professor Tomasz KozĹ‚owski tested the Y-DNA of Prince Janusz III of Masovia, Duke of Czersk, Warsaw, Liw, Zakroczym and Nur. He was a direct descendent of the Piast Dynasty, the first historical dynasty ruling over Poland, starting with Prince Mieszko I (c. 930–992) and ending in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. The Piast family continued to rule over the Duchy of until 1526 and the Duchy of Silesia until 1675. Prof. KozĹ‚owski announced that the prince belonged to haplogroup R1b, and therefore probably also other members of that royal lineage, including all the Dukes of Masovia(1138-1526), as long as no non-paternity event took place.

Bogdanowicza et al. (2009) tested the Y-chromosomal DNA and mitochondrial DNA of the exhumed remains of the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. They established that he belonged to Y-haplogroup R1b and mt-haplogroup H.

Rogaev et al. (2009) tested the DNA of the presumed grave of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and all his five children, and compared them against archival blood specimens from Nicholas II as well as against samples from descendants of both paternal and maternal lineages. The results unequivocally confirmed that the grave was the one of the last Russian Royal family. Nicholas II belonged to Y-haplogroup R1b and mt-haplogroup T2. Consequently, all Russian emperors of the Romanov dynasty since Peter III (1728-1762) also belonged to haplogroup R1b. This paternal lineage ultimately descends from the House of Oldenburg, which includes all the Kings of Denmark since Christian I (reigned from 1448) as well as several Kings of Norway, Sweden and Greece, and the current heirs to the British throne (Prince Charles and his son Prince William).

Quite a few U.S. Presidents had their haplogroups deducted from descendant testing. Among those whose R1b subclade remains to be determine, we find Zachary Taylor (12th), Franklin Pierce (14th), William McKinley (25th), and Woodrow Wilson (28th).

The great English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882), who proposed the scientific theory of evolution and the process of natural selection, was a member of haplogroup R1b according to the test results from his great-great-grandson.

Kevin Bacon (b. 1958), an American actor and musician whose films include musical-drama film Footloose (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller JFK (1991), the legal drama A Few Good Men (1992), the historical docudrama Apollo 13 (1995), and the mystery drama Mystic River (2003). Bacon has won a Golden Globe Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.


The American actor Robert John Downey Jr. (b. 1965) had his Y-haplogroup was revealed by the PBS television series Finding Your Roots. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the movie Chaplin (1992), and won a Golden Globe Award for his role in the TV series Ally McBeal. He is also known for portraying the role of Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man.

DNA hunters has opened Viking grave in Normandie

Normandie, France.Professor Emeritus at the University of Oslo, Per Holck, (T. H.) and Andaine Seguin Orlando by DNA lab Centre for Geogenetics at the University of Copenhagen was Monday in Normandy and opened the graves of two of the Viking leader Rollo of Normandy their descendants..Photo. Vegard Strømsodd/Explico / NTB scanpix

POSTED BY: TOR INGAR OESTERUD 2. MARCH 2016

Norwegian researchers have finally got to open the tomb of the Viking leader Rollo’s descendants. They will find out whether Rollo was the same Rollo as Rollo from Møre. In that case the British royal family originated from Norway.

A Norwegian-led delegation was in Normandy on Monday and opened the sarcophagus of two of Rollo’s descendants. The aim is to put an end to a centuries-long debate: Was Rollo Danish or Norwegian?

– We have been working to get this investigated in about seven years, so to finally get collected material to test DNA was huge  historian and project initiator Sturla EllingvĂĄg of the foundation Explico said.

Rollo was the founder of Normandy, Count of Rouen and great great great grandfather of William the Conqueror, who is the ancestor of the English royal house. While  Norwegian-Icelandic historical documents and historians have argued since the Snorre Sagas that Rollo and Rollo are one and the same person, the Danish historians believed that he came from Denmark. Rollo,  the son of Rognvald was exiled from Norway and was said to have settled in France.

Plucked out teeth

In January the French authorities and the French church granted the Norwegian application to open the tomb of Rollo’s grandson and great-grandson, Duke Richard the fearless and son Duke Richard the good. The tomb is a sarcophagus in the floor of a monastery in FĂ©camp. When they opened the grave Monday, researchers found, among other things, a lower jaw with eight teeth in the tomb of Richard the good:

– The key is to find teeth, for the DNA of the teeth may, even all these years, be sufficent for a DNA analysis. Two forensic experts from Norway and Denmark snatched five of his teeth and those teeth are now being sent to the Institutes of Forensic Medicine in both of the countries for analysis,  Chairman of Samlerhuset and The Norwegian Mint, Ole Bjørn Fausa says.

A result of the analysis will probably be available in the autumn and will be presented in cooperation with the French authorities. So it remains to be seen whether the results indicates Denmark or Norway.

The small sarcophagi at first glance looks like they only accommodate toddlers, but Fausa explains:

– When they were buried in a floor, it was a matter of space. The most important thing was to preserve the skeleton. We do not know how this was done here, but it was common to either cut the bodies into pieces or boil them so the meat loosened from the bones. This meant that the  the sarcophagus didn’t have to be longer than a femur, which is the longest bone in the body,  Fausa says.

Rare event

Fausa describes the atmosphere at the tomb as an amazing experience:

– As far as we know this is only the second time since the war that a king’s tomb has been opened in France. Just being a part of it, and find the skeletons in there, it was exciting, solemn and unreal at the same time.

In the work process, he also found that he is a 35th generation descendant of Rollo.

– Of course it enhances this experience, to know that this was my ancestors, Fausa says.

If Rollo and Rollo proves to be the same person, it will be of historical significance:

– If the British royal family originates from the northwest coast it will, among other things, change the notion that the Norwegian royal family is young, with origins from the British and Danish, says Fausa.

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

http://norwaytoday.info/culture/dna-hunters-unopened-viking-grave-in-normandie/

Ă–tzi the Iceman: Researchers validate the stability of genetic markers

Date:
February 16, 2017
Source:
Saarland University
Summary:
Biomarkers are biological attributes that can give doctors or researchers clues about the health status or illnesses of a patient. Scientists are placing great hope in a new type of biomarker, so-called microRNAs. These short ribonucleic acid molecules are notable for their very high level of stability. Researchers have now established that such microRNAs can remain stable even after 5,300 years.

Researchers found short ribonucleic acid molecules (microRNA) even in mummies like Oetzi.
Credit: Andreas Keller, Saarland University
They have found the molecules in the well-known glacier mummy "Ă–tzi." A number of facts have been scientifically proven about the glacier mummy, known as "the Iceman" or "Ă–tzi," found in the Ă–tztal Alps (South Tyrol) in 1991. Through imaging techniques, we know about degeneration in his lumbar spine and a fatal arrow wound in his left shoulder. DNA analyses showed that Ă–tzi was lactose intolerant, and had brown eyes and blood type 0. Now a study of Ă–tzi's microRNAs has also been completed. MicroRNAs are very small pieces of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and play a central role in the regulation of genes.
Although these molecules are very stable in tissues, prior to this study it was unclear whether they could still be found in human tissues after thousands of years. Therefore, Professors Andreas Keller and Eckart Meese of Saarland University, Stephanie Kreis of the University of Luxembourg, and Professor Albert Zink and Frank Maixner of Eurac Research in Bozen took on the challenge. They analyzed not only tissue samples from the Iceman, but also those from a mummy of a soldier fallen in World War I. "Our investigation provides evidence that we can analyze microRNA even after thousands of years," explains Andreas Keller, Professor of Clinical Bioinformatics at Saarland University, who coordinated the study.
The scientists took samples from Ă–tzi's skin, stomach, and stomach contents. "It was a challenge to extract this genetic material in significant quantities and sufficient quality from the mummified tissue samples, and to measure and quantify it with the newest, very precise methods," reports Stephanie Kreis, who isolated the microRNAs at the University of Luxembourg. Some molecules were found that were present predominantly in the ancient tissues. Conversely, some of the biomarkers that are well-known today were not found in Ă–tzi. According to Professor Zink from Eurac Research, the microRNAs are the next important class of molecules from Ă–tzi to receive intensive examination.
Professor Meese, head of the Institute of Human Genetics at Saarland University, claims that the stability of these biomarkers is also important for people today. "It is vital for clinical applications," explains Meese. "It's evident that the potential of microRNA is much greater than we previously thought. We still don't know enough about how these molecules influence specific genes, entire gene families, or biochemical reaction pathways. When we investigate this further, it's possible microRNAs will become new stars in therapy. Until then, however, there is a lot more work to do," concludes Professor Keller.

Story Source:
Materials provided by Saarland UniversityNote: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:
  1. Andreas Keller, Stephanie Kreis, Petra Leidinger, Frank Maixner, Nicole Ludwig, Christina Backes, Valentina Galata, Gea Guerriero, Tobias Fehlmann, Andre Franke, Benjamin Meder, Albert Zink, Eckart Meese. miRNAs in ancient tissue specimens of the Tyrolean IcemanMolecular Biology and Evolution, 2016; msw291 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msw291


https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170216094511.htm

Irish DNA originated in Middle East and eastern Europe

Genome analysis shows mass migration of Stone Age farmers from Fertile Crescent and Bronze Age settlers from eastern Europe was foundation of Celtic population



Excavated near Belfast in 1855, the bones of this farmer had lain in a Neolithic tomb chamber for 5,000 years. Her DNA has now been sequenced. Photograph: Daniel Bradley, Trinity College Dublin

Scientists from Dublin and Belfast have looked deep into Ireland’s early history to discover a still-familiar pattern of migration: of stone age settlers with origins in the Fertile Crescent, and bronze age economic migrants who began a journey somewhere in eastern Europe.
The evidence has lain for more than 5,000 years in the bones of a woman farmer unearthed from a tomb in Ballynahatty, near Belfast, and in the remains of three men who lived between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago and were buried on Rathlin Island in County Antrim.
Scientists at Trinity College Dublin used a technique called whole-genome analysis to “read” not the unique characteristics of each individual, but a wider history of ancestral migration and settlement in the DNA from all four bodies.

 A reconstruction of the Ballynahatty Neolithic skull by Elizabeth Black. Her genes tell us she had black hair and brown eyes. Photograph: Barrie Hartwell
They confirm a picture that has been emerging for decades from archaeological studies. Migrant communities did not compete with the original Irish. They became the Irish.

The ancestors of the Stone Age farmers began their journey in the Bible lands, where agriculture first began, and arrived in Ireland perhaps via the southern Mediterranean. They brought with them cattle, cereals, ceramics and a tendency to black hair and brown eyes.
These settlers were followed by people, initially from the Pontic steppe of southern Russia, who knew how to mine for copper and work with gold, and who carried the genetic variant for a blood disorder called haemochromatosis, a hereditary genetic condition so common in Ireland that it is sometimes called Celtic disease.
These people also brought with them the inherited variation that permits the digestion of milk in maturity – much of the world becomes intolerant to the milk sugar lactose after infancy – and they may even have brought the language that became what is now Irish. Some of them, too, had blue eyes.

Geneticists from Trinity College Dublin, and archaeologists from Queens University Belfast, speak about their discoveries.
“There was a great wave of genome change that swept into Europe from above the Black Sea into Bronze Age Europe and we now know it washed all the way to the shores of its most westerly island,” said Dan Bradley, professor of population genetics at Trinity College Dublin.
“And this degree of genetic change invites the possibility of other associated changes, perhaps even the introduction of language ancestral to western Celtic tongues.”
The Dublin team and colleagues from Queens University Belfast report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the two great changes in European prehistory – the emergence of agriculture and the advance of metallurgy – were not just culture shifts: they came with new blood. An earlier population of hunter gatherers was successively overwhelmed by new arrivals. And in Ireland, these new settlers began to define a nation.
“These findings,” the authors say, “suggest the establishment of central attributes of the Irish genome 4,000 years ago.”
Working from the principle that any human DNA tells a story not just of individual identity but of ten thousand years of ancestry, researchers have begun to piece together the entire story of Homo sapiens. The story is incomplete, and under constant revision, but the outline of the settlement of Europe and Asia told by DNA confirms and illuminates the archaeological evidence.
Modern humans arrived in the British Isles relatively late after the end of the Ice Age. Evidence of early settlement in Ireland is sketchy and indirect: in 2013, researchers looked at the DNA of the Irish banded wood snail and identified it as closely related to the species found in the French Pyrenees. The best explanation so far is that these snails may have arrived 8,000 years ago as the leftovers from the packed lunch, so to speak, of a much earlier community of European traders or migrants. Nobody can say who these people may have been, or why they arrived with a taste for escargots.
But the latest study throws more light on the birth of a nation. All three dead men from Rathlin Island carried what is now the most common type of Irish Y chromosome, inherited only from male forebears.
“It is clear that this project has demonstrated what a powerful tool ancient DNA analysis can provide in answering questions which have long perplexed academics regarding the origins of the Irish,” said Eileen Murphy, who lectures in osteoarchaeology at Queen’s in Belfast.
And Lara Cassidy, a researcher in genetics at Trinity College Dublin and another co-author, said “Genetic affinity is strongest between Bronze Age genomes and modern Irish, Scottish and Welsh, suggesting establishment of central attributes of the insular Celtic genome 4,000 years ago.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ffyUFRURk

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/dec/28/origins-of-the-irish-down-to-mass-migration-ancient-dna-confirms

Norman Roman Templar Genes - Haplogroup R-M269 - R1b1a1a2 - DYS464X: 15c-15c-17c-17g

Norman Roman Templar Genes - Haplogroup R-M269 - R1b1a1a2 - DYS464X: 15c-15c-17c-17g Haplogroup R-M269 , also known as  R1b1a1a2 , is a s...