My iPhone vibrated on the stand next to my bed just moments after I’d turned off the lights Tuesday night. It was alerting me that a new email had come through. I looked at the preview on the screen and realized my day was not over. The results of my mitochondrial DNA test were back from the lab. Like I could sleep knowing that!

Moments later I was staring into the computer screen trying to make sense of the information in front of me. Most of it was over my head. The test results indicated that I belonged to the mitochondrial “haplogroup” called “H49a1”.  Interesting news I suppose. I skipped over all the sciencey stuff when I saw the word “Matches”. That I understood. I clicked on the link and was presented a list of 21 names.

Admittedly I was a bit disappointed at the length of the list. I have thousands of autosomal DNA cousins between Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA.com and GEDmatch.com. But, my mitochondrial DNA test yielded less than two dozen genetic cousins. I realized very quickly, however, that this list was unlike the others. The names were all foreign to me. Seriously. My mitochondrial DNA genetic cousins included a man living in Spain (Jose Luis), a women from Germany (Waldtraud)  and another from Sweden (Johanna Bjork).

We inherit our mitochondrial DNA from our mothers who received it from their mothers and so on. Only females can pass it forward. These 21 people and I share a common female ancestor who lived thousands if not tens of thousands of years ago.

Or not.

It turns out that “H49a1” is rare. (That explains the short list of matches.) Although mitochondrial DNA remains relatively unchanged, slight mutations occur over time. Our “haplogroup” began as “H” which is predominate in Europe. “H49” came along thousands of years later when a mutation occurred. According to scientists, “H49a” came into existence about “2,000 to 7,800” years ago, most likely in Europe. Next came “H49a1”, which is a relatively recent mutation genetically speaking. Thus, it’s possible that my “H49a1” genetic cousins and I came from the same x-times great grandmother who lived less than 2,000 years ago. This will surely land me on a future episode of Ancient Aliens.

My brother and sister and my sister’s three daughters all carry this same rare mitochondrial DNA. Mom always said we were special. But, I don’t think she realized just how special we are thanks to her.

Kenfolk: Utlauts
Relation: Way, way back
Common ancestor: Great grandmother “H49a1”

References:
http://dna-explained.com/2014/06/page/4/