Haplogroup R1b marker L1335

The is now a project for marker L1335 (also known as S530) a branch of haplogroup R1b at Family Tree DNA administered by Robert Hughes http://www.familytreedna.com/public/R1b-L1335/

This SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) is a marker which notates the group commonly known as STR47-Scots or the 'Scots Cluster'.  The marker is found particularly in western Scotland, but also as far north as the Orkney Islands and Sutherland.  There is also a cluster emerging in Wales.  The results page can be found here http://www.familytreedna.com/public/R1b-L1335/default.aspx?section=yresults

You can see where L1335 fits in the bigger picture of Haplogroup R1b via this diagram produced by the chaps in the R1b-P312 Haplogroup and Subclades Y DNA group at Yahoo.
R1b-L21_Descendency_Tree.jpg 

Report on new test from the Genographic Project / Family Tree DNA

Debbie Kennett administrator of the Devon DNA Project (the county) and the Cruwys DNA Project has put together a great summary of the forth coming ancestry test developed by the Genographic Project and Family Tree DNA. The test looks at markers from Y-DNA, mtDNA as well as autosomal DNA and will complement tests currently available at FTDNA.

It looks as though this test will be a replacement for the Y-DNA 'deep clade' currently used for deep ancestry. This is an exciting development for those of us interested in deeper ancestry and time frame when surnames were becoming adopted and hereditary.

Indications are that you will be able to purchase and link the product to your FTDNA account, so hold fire on ordering direct if you have a Family Tree DNA account until this is clarified.

Debbie also weighs up how the test might impact on other companies such as Ancestry and 23andMe.

Cruwys news: Ancestry SNPs galore: Today sees the launch of  Geno 2.0, an exciting new DNA test which marks phase two of the  Genographic Project...

With thanks to Debbie for putting together such a comprehensive blog.

Father-Son-Brother Project at FTDNA

This new project at Family Tree DNA has been set up by Sandy Paterson a friend of the Scotish DNA Project. The aim is to gather father-son and brother-brother haplotypes for comparison in order to help in the estimation of father to son Y-STR mutation rates using FTDNA marker.

If you have close male kin who meet the join criteria the project can be found at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Father-Son-Brother/default.aspx

Who Do You Think You Are? - Olympia, London

The Scottish DNA Project will be represented at Who Do you Think You Are? - The national history show at Olympia, London from 25-27th February 2011.

The show features over 100 workshops from top genealogists and includes 23 talks on DNA and family history from Bennett Greenspan, Max Blankfeld and Mike Hammer from Family Tree DNA, as well as Brian Swann, Chris Pomery and Katherine Borges.

Talks this year include:

• DNA for Genealogy - Basic Concepts
• DNA Recruiting and Testing on Both Sides of the Pond
• DNA Success Stories
• New Frontiers for DNA and Genealogy
• The Populating of the World According to DNA
• Combining Traditional and Genetic Genealogy: lessons from leading surname projects
• National Geographic's DNA Project - The Genographic Project
• 'There's a Family History Here, Jim - but not (quite) as we know it!'
• 21st Century Tools for the Genealogist

Come along to stalls 31 & 42 (they are next to one another) to meet the University of Strathclyde team who are overseeing the project. An event not to be missed if you are in the locality.

Welcome to the Scottish DNA Project Blog

In our first posting we would like to briefly highlight some recent administrative changes, explain the aim of this blog and look to the future.

The project was started by John Hansen in October 2001 as the Scottish Clans and has grown steadily as family historians have utilized genetic genealogy as a tool to advance their research.  In the spring of 2010 John handed over administration of the project to the genealogical studies team at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Also stepping back after many years committed service to the project is Martha Smith who regularly updated results in the master database. The current project team would like to express sincere thanks to both John and Martha for all their hard work over many years.  Lauren Boyd continues as admin of the RootsWeb Scot-DNA mailing list and Charlotte Broun as overseer of the My Family Scottish DNA community website. For further details of these community resources see http://www.scottishdna.net/community.html

You will probably have noticed that the name of the project has been changed from the Scottish Clans to the Scottish DNA Project. The new name was thought more appropriate and better reflects the revised project goals especially as many lineages with Scottish origins have never belonged or been known to belong to any traditional family grouping or clan.

This blog is primarily a platform to keep participants and individuals informed of project news and general developments in the field of genetic genealogy with particular emphasis on Scottish DNA Studies. As a national project we recognise the very important and pioneering work undertaken by many independently run projects whether they be clan, family, surname or haplogroup.  We aim to support, promote and encourage the best possible participation of these projects.

If you are the administrator of a Scottish orientated DNA project and would like the opportunity to have it highlighted in this blog to recruit members, please drop us an email at scottishdna@strath.ac.uk

We have a number of ideas for the Scottish DNA Project in the months ahead so do please sign up to follow the blog and keep informed.  We appreciate constructive feedback from interested parties.