Project Home Page
"Sizzling Summer Sale" at FTDNA - WOW!!!
Mitochondrial DNA testing is the newest tool available to genealogists. These tests help genealogists verify their maternal ancestry (mother's mother). It saves time, prevents mistakes, and provides invaluable data that can be obtained in no other way.
The purpose of this group is to document family connections and ethnic migrations of families who are part of the U5 haplogroup. Published scientific papers on haplogroup U5 have been based on relatively small numbers of participants, and we are all pioneers in this emerging field. By including the mtDNA results of participants of former scientific studies with our unique combination of mtDNA profiles and family histories, we will contribute to the base of knowledge about Haplogroup U5 and its branches, its ethnic origins, and its historic migration. Equally important, we will attempt to discover our personal branches of the U5 tree and begin to connect the pedigrees of our ancestral women who share this haplogroup.
The U5 mtDNA Haplogroup Project will:
- Help researchers on common or related families work together to find their common heritage. See the Matriarchs page.
- Identify the DNA of the ancestor families and compile the families and their lost branches into distinct genetic lineages through mtDNA matches. See the Results page.
About Haplogroup U5
Haplogroup descriptions from Family Tree DNA
Specific mitochondrial haplogroups are typically found in different regions of the world, and this is due to unique population histories. In the process of spreading around the world, many populations—with their special mitochondrial haplogroups—became isolated, and specific haplogroups concentrated in geographic regions. Today, we have identified certain haplogroups that originated in Africa, Europe, Asia, the islands of the Pacific, the Americas, and even particular ethnic groups. Of course, haplogroups that are specific to one region are sometimes found in another, but this is due to recent migration.
The mitochondrial super-haplogroup U encompasses haplogroups U1-U7 and haplogroup K. Haplogroup U5, with its own multiple lineages nested within, is the oldest European-specific haplogroup, and its origin dates to approximately 50,000 years ago. Most likely arising in the Near East, and spreading into Europe in a very early expansion, the presence of haplogroup U5 in Europe pre-dates the expansion of agriculture in Europe. Haplogroup U5a1a—a lineage within haplogroup U5—arose in Europe less than 20,000 years ago, and is mainly found in northwest and north-central Europe. The modern distribution of haplogroup U5a1a suggests that individuals bearing this haplogroup were part of the populations that had tracked the retreat of ice sheets from Europe. Haplogroup U5b—a lineage within U5—is found distributed throughout western and central Europe, and was present in the original European populations. Haplogroup U5b1—a lineage within U5—likely originated in the Saami, who are widely known as a reindeer-herding population living in northern Scandinavia. It is found at low frequency in neighboring populations as a function of migration.
Haplogroup description from the Genographic Project
The U5 lineage is found outside of Scandinavia, though at much lower frequencies and at lower genetic diversity. Interestingly, the U5 lineage found in the Saami has also been found in some North African Berber populations in Morocco, Senegal, and Algeria. Finding similar genetic lineages in populations living thousands of miles apart is certainly unexpected, and is likely the result of reexpansions that occurred after the last glacial maximum around 15,000 years ago. Humans who had been confined to narrow patches in southern Europe began to move outward again, recolonizing ancient territories and bringing new genetic lineages with them.
In addition to being present in some parts of North Aftica, U5 individuals also live sporadically in the Near East at two percent--about one-fifth as frequent as in parts of Europe--and are completely abent from Arabia. Their distribution in the Near East is largely confined to surrounding populations, such as Turks, Kurds, Armenians, and Egyptians. Because these individuals contain lineages that first evolved in Europe, their presence in the Near East is the result of a back-migration of people who left northern Europe and headed south, as though retracing the migratory paths of their own ancestors.
Information about mtDNA Haplogroup U5:
Atlas of the Human Journey: Haplogroup U5
Saami and Berbers--An Unexpected Mitochondrial DNA Link
Information about mitochondrial DNA:
World Distribution of mtDNA Haplogroups
Haplogroup Frequencies for European Populations
