Hg U: Lineages and Results of mtDNA Testing for a Danish Regional DNA Project

Helligkorsgade, Kølding, DK (built 1589; photo from WikimediaCommons by User:Mahlum, 2006)

Danish Demes
a Regional DNA Project for Danish Americans and Danes around the World

Borches gård, Kolding, DK (built 1595; photo from WikimediaCommons by User:Mahlum, 2006)

Lineages and Results of mtDNA Testing for Haplogroup U — "Clan Ursula"

Y-DNA Results Hub	mtDNA Haplogroups Represented in the Project and Their Frequency (n tested at FTDNA + n tested elsewhere)						mtDNA Results Hub	Project Home Page
	H (15+1)	J (1)	K (2)	T (3)	U (2)	V (2)

Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup U is popularly known as "Clan Ursula," though strictly speaking, "Ursula" applies only to one subclade, U5, the oldest group of modern humans in Europe. They were there before the Last Glacial Maximum and would have encountered, if not extinguished, the Neanderthals. Today they are about 11% of modern Europeans and are most common in western Britain and Scandinavia. We have four project members who are Haplogroup U:

U5b

In the "gee whiz" ("cheez whiz"?) department, the famous "Cheddar Man" of Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England, was subclade U5a.

The Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS) is arbitrarily designated as the standard against which all mtDNA sequences are compared, and subject test results are expressed as differences from the CRS. The CRS happens to be negative for the 519C mutation, which is otherwise very common, so the majority of tested individuals will have this mutation listed in the HVR1 region.

In the table below, a darkened empty cell means the test was not ordered. All HVR1 marker designations begin with "16___"; so, to save space and improve readability, I've dropped the 16 in the tables. With regard to results, a letter in red indicates a mutation (a base has changed); a letter in green indicates a new base has been inserted; a minus sign (-) indicates a base has been lost.

With regard to lineages, given names and patronymics are shown as Initial Caps, while surnames are shown in ALL-CAPS (these are the womens' maiden names, not their married names).

Your project admin recommends uploading your mtDNA results to MitoSearch.org, which can be done at your FTDNA member page (on the "mtDNA Matches" tab).

Subclade U5a

Differences from CRS

Individual

HVR1

HVR2

192T, 270T

Cheddar Man-__________________________________________________

The earliest complete skeleton found in Britain is dated to about 9000 years ago. It is the skeleton of a young man found in a cave in Cheddar, Somerset, England (and was thus dubbed, "Cheddar Man"). Testing of mtDNA extracted from a molar shows he is Haplogroup U5a. Twenty-eight living local residents of Cheddar were also tested, and two of them had the exact same mutations as Cheddar Man, while one other individual had a single additional mutation.

Subclade U2

Kit #

MitoSearch
UserID

Differences from Cambridge Reference Sequence

Known Lineage

HVR1

HVR2

N43228

QFGTC

51G, 129C, 182C, 183C, 189C, 362C, 519C

73G, 146C, 152C, 217C, 263G, 309.1C, 315.1C, 508G

Dau⁷, Dau⁶, Enger Karine MILLER⁵, Hedevig Elisabeth JØRGENSEN⁴, Karen Henriksen SLOTT³, Kristiane KRAGE², Karen Pedersdatter¹ — of Vejle, Vejle Amt, DK

This individual has dozens of matches in her HVR1 region, but her combined HVR1+HVR2 haplotype is rare, with no full matches in the FTDNA or mitoSearch databases. The mutation that is preventing her from having at least a few full matches is 146C in HVR2.

Subclade U4

Kit #

MitoSearch
UserID

Differences from CRS

Known Lineage

HVR1

HVR2

67908

PE23X

134T, 172C, 356C, 362C, 519C

Son [awaiting lineage] Karen Nielsdatter¹ (1797-1829) — of Sandvig, Mern Sogn, Bårse Herred, Præstø Amt, DK

This individual has no matches in the FTDNA database and only one near match at Ysearch (GD=1).