mtDNA test with Oxford Ancestors

[MissBea]

Hi
I will just say first of all that this is my 2nd posting on this topic. I had my mtDNA tested a few years back and it came back as Helena, but when I have tried to do research into this there is another letter or number following the 'H', but I was just told Helena. I also have a mutation which I think is 278. What does this mean? Is there somewhere that I can enter my dna into and they will tell me? I have tried to look online but everytime I start reading the stuff my brain just says no way and it's all gobblydee gook to me. Help!!
Also I would like to have my mom's 5 brothers tested to see what the paternity is does anyone know of a good organisation that does this?
Many thanks

[DevonCruwys]

Oxford Ancestors give nicknames to what are known as haplogroups. Haplogroups are branches of the human family tree. Helena is the OA nickname for haplogroup H. There are lots of sub-branches (known as subclades) of H. You can see the human mtDNA tree here:

http://www.phylotree.org/tree/main.htm

Sometimes it is possible to predict the subclade from a low-resolution mtDNA test,  but you generally need to have your whole mtDNA genome sequenced in what is known as the FMS test (full mitochondrial sequence test) to identify the subclade.

You can enter your "differences" from the CRS (Cambridge Reference Sequence) to search for matches on Mitosearch:

http://www.mitosearch.org/

You can also upload your mtDNA results to James Lick's free utility to see if he can predict the subclade for you:

http://dna.jameslick.com/mthap

In the long run if you wish to do anything with your mtDNA you would probably be better off re-testing at Family Tree DNA as they have the largest mtDNA database. Their mtDNAPlus test now costs only US$49 and sequences both HVR1 and HVR2 (Oxford Ancestors only sequence HVR1). However, Hs tend to have huge numbers of matches and it might be necessary to upgrade to the full sequence test which is much more expensive.

There is a large haplogroup H project at FTDNA:

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/h%20mtdna%20haplogroup/

Can you clarify what you mean about checking the paternity of your mum's brothers. Do you want to verify that they all share the same father or do you not know the identity of the father?

[MissBea]

Many thanks for your reply, I will definitely look at the links and consider the retesting.

"Can you clarify what you mean about checking the paternity of your mum's brothers. Do you want to verify that they all share the same father or do you not know the identity of the father?"

short answer is both! There are 2 official fathers named but one was ill and died before the last brother was conceived, I have doubts as to whether the second person named is the father, but unfortunately my uncles do not want to find out so I will have to let this sleeping dog lie.

[DevonCruwys]

short answer is both! There are 2 official fathers named but one was ill and died before the last brother was conceived, I have doubts as to whether the second person named is the father, but unfortunately my uncles do not want to find out so I will have to let this sleeping dog lie.

This is the sort scenario that you can investigate with the new autosomal DNA tests but obviously you have to respect the wishes of the families involved. The children of the various brothers could be tested to see if they were half-siblings or full siblings but their tests would have implications for other family members and it is probably not a good idea to proceed in the current circumstances.