In October 2010 we completed genetic testing to determine our mtDNA haplogroup.  Our mtDNA type is H which is shared by all females related to Louise Liffengren Hullinger in the female line and by their male children.  All of Louise's relatives in the female line and their male children will have an identical or very similar H Haplogroup.

Current DNA theory posits that all people are descended from one woman - Eve. This woman lived in Africa many thousands of years ago.  


Each woman passes on her mtDNA to her children.  Each one of her daughters pass on this mtDNA to her children. Men do not pass their mtDNA on to their children.

Over time there are small changes to the mtDNA. These divisions enable us to follow the migrations of different groups of individuals by their mtDNA. 

The mtDNA haplogroups evolved into seven founding female mtDNA lineages in Europe. H is one of those founding lineages. Brian Sykes is a genetist and author who dramatizes the journey by giving the haplogroup a name - in our case H = Helena.
  
Helena

"Helena, or haplogroup H, was formed by genetic mutations beginning 20,000 years ago. The Glacial Maximum pushed these new Europeans south and up against the Alps and Pyrenees. Her clan may have known the cave paintings at Dordogne in France. This was the most successful clan and 47 percent of modern Europeans are descended from them."




Each woman in our female line shares the H – Helena mtDNA Haplogroup.

Her mother before her shared the H Haplogroup.

Each woman passes on this H Haplogroup to all of her children.

Each one of her daughters passes on the H Haplogroup to all of her children.

Our Female Line Geneaology - From Norway

Keri Hopperstad ?

Anna Hagen 1815-1909


Sigrid Undi Espeseth 1842-1922 b Vik Sogn, Norway


Ida Caroline Kaasa Anderson 1877-1957  


Edna Sophia Anderson Liffengren 1901-1979

Louise Liffengren Hullinger
Ida Liffengren Jensen
Opal Liffengren Cartney


All their maternal ancestors and their children and the children of their daughters.

Photos of Vik Sogn, Norway














Photos of Vik Sogn, Norway, ancestral home of our Anderson / Liffengren ancestors.




Vik is a Beautiful Town




Beht and Craig Hullinger at Vik, Norway






Bay in Vik, Norway






More Photos on the Link Below:



Maps Maternal mtDNA Origins and Migration


The Maps below show the location of origin of mtDNA haplogroup types and their subsequent migration.







mtDNA Certificate







The Seven Daughters of Eve


Brian Sykes in "The Seven Daughters of Eve" dramatizes and discusses the founding genetic lineages of Europe.

The information below is provided the review below written on Oct 21, 2008 by Sara E. Lewis.







Sykes says his book is about "the history of the world as revealed by genetics." He names the genetic clan groups and describes their world.

The Seven Daughters of Eve is a must read for anyone considering a DNA analysis to supplement genealogical work. Author Bryan Sykes' conversational and breezy writing style demystifies the science. Although most of the book describes his research path (see Understanding Genetic Genealogy), he lapses into the romantic visions of the daughters or clan mothers toward the end.

Differences in mtDNA Noted in 1987

A 1987 paper described how mitochondrial DNA shows human population evolution. If two people have a very similar mitochondrial DNA, then they are more closely related. They have a common ancestor who lived more recently in the past. People with very different mitochondrial DNA share a more remote common ancestor. Both males and females have mitochondria in all cells, but only women pass theirs on to offspring because only women produce eggs. Fathers pass on nuclear DNA (Y-DNA).

Out of Africa

Sykes applied the mitochondrial DNA knowledge to determine the progress of Homo sapiens out of Africa, the only place where there are fossils covering the last three million years from Homo erectus, to Homo neanderthalensis, to Homo sapiens. In 1997, DNA was sequenced from a Neaderthal and it had 26 differences from the average modern European, which indicates that they last shared a common ancestor about 250,000 years ago.

After collecting thousands of DNA samples from across Europe, Sykes fit the sequences into a scheme to show their evolutionary relationship to one another. He found seven clusters (haplogroups or clades) that frame the population of Europe. Six of the seven were older than ten thousand years. Historians had previously believed that agriculturalists overwhelmed the last of the hunter-gatherers on the European landscape after the last Ice Age. But the mitochondrial DNA showed otherwise. It provided evidence that most of Europe is populated by people whose ancestors endured the last Ice Age.

Sykes' Seven Daughters scenarios also draw on archaeology and climate records, including styles of tools, pollen in ice cores, animal and fish bones. “Theses are real people, genetically almost identical to us, their descendants, but living in very different circumstances,” he explained.

Ursula
Ursula is the oldest clan mother and she lived 45,000 years ago. Her clan faced the Neanderthals and moved further into cold Europe than any of there kind had before. They edged the Neanderthals into extinction and currently make up about 11 percent of the modern European population.

Xenia
Xenia and her clan came into being about 20,000 years ago at a time when earlier species of the genus Homo had become extinct and modern humans had Europe to themselves. Although the continent was cold and inhospitable, the tundra was teeming with bison and reindeer. Three branches of Xenia’s clan fanned out across Europe and 6 percent of today’s Europeans trace their mitochondrial DNA back through her clan.

Helena
Helena, or haplogroup H, was formed by genetic mutations beginning 20,000 years ago. The Glacial Maximum pushed these new Europeans south and up against the Alps and Pyrenees. Her clan may have known the cave paintings at Dordogne in France. This was the most successful clan and 47 percent of modern Europeans are descended from them.

Velda
A copy error in DNA marks the genesis of Velda’s clan about 17,000 years ago. The clan lived in southern France, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula. They maintained a permanent base camp and produced symbolic and naturalistic art. About 5 percent of Europeans were members of this clan.

Tara
Tara’s clan was launched about 17,000 years ago. Her clan lived in Italy in the depths of the Ice Age. They were less prosperous, but perhaps developed musical instruments and boats. The maritime lifestyle provided the clan with mussels and seals to eat. About 9 percent of Europeans are members of the clan of Tara. They live around the Mediterranean and are numerous in Britain and Ireland.

Katrine
Younger still, Katrine’s clan was differentiated about 15,000 years ago. People still lived in small bands at that time, but the world was warming and would soon make this hunting lifestyle less necessary. Katrine’s clan domesticated animals to live in herds and provide food and companionship. Six percent of native Europeans are from the clan of Katrine.

Jasmine
When Jasmine’s clan formed, the Last Ice Age was at an end. Jasmine’s clan lived in permanent quarters and began to plant seeds, raise crops, and herd animals. Today, 17 percent of Europeans are in the clan of Jasmine. One group followed the Mediterranean coast and found its way to the west of Britain, and is common in Cornwall, Wales, and the west of Scotland. The other is common in the central portion of northern Europe.

DNA Connections Through Time and Around the World Build Community Feeling

There are 26 other clans of equivalent status in the rest of the world. Interestingly, Africa has only 13 percent of the world’s population yet 40 percent of the maternal clans originated there.

Said Sykes “Until I started this work I always thought of my ancestors, if I thought of them at all, as some sort of vague and amorphous collection of dead people with no solid connection to me or the modern world, and certainly no real relevance to either

… But once I had realized, through the genetics, that one of my ancestors was actually there, taking part, it was no longer merely interesting – it is overwhelming. DNA is the messenger which illuminates that connections, handed down from generation to generation, carried, literally, in the bodies of my ancestors. Each message traces a journey through time and space … When two people find out that they are in the same clan they often experience this feeling of connection. Very few can put it into words, but it is most definitely there.”

Many DNA communities have been established to explore these connections.

Read more at Suite101: The Seven Daughters of Eve: Bryan Sykes Personalizes the mtDNA Clans that Populated Europe 


Understanding our DNA Testing



DNA testing is hard to understand. The following may help.




















The DNA testing service matches people with identical or similar DNA.  I am in communication with a Mr. Robert Leblanc who has an identical "H" Haplogroup. We are comparing notes about our genetic history.

We have also been matched with a number of other individuals with similar mtDNA. Over time we will compare notes to determine our relationship.

I will post our detailed genealogy GedCom file when I get back home which will help facilitate connections. Beth and I a traveling now - see our recent trips at:


__________________


WHAT DOES MY H SUBCLADE MEAN?

Three recent papers published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, The American Journal of Human Genetics, and Genome Research and led by Dr. Eva-Liis Loogväli and Professor Richard Villems in Tartu, Estonia, and Dr. Alessandro Achilli and Professor Antonio Torroni in Pavia, Italy, and Dr. Luisa Pereira in Porto, Portugal, respectively, represent an advance in understanding in haplogroup H, which represents about 40% of all maternal lineages in Europe, and stretches into Western Asia as well.

Because this haplogroup is dominant in West Eurasia, Family Tree DNA began offering testing for sub-haplogroups H1-11 and downstream variants in conjunction with the first published paper, entitled Disuniting Uniformity: A Pied Cladistic Canvas of mtDNA haplogroup H in Eurasia. We expect that this first anthropological attempt to offer genuine resolution for H-clade mitochondria will begin to answer the question that has been asked time and again on our female lineages: where (even approximately) do we come from; or because Europe was re-settled after the end of the last Glacial Maximum, more appropriately, where is my mtDNA most concentrated in Eurasia.

The paper defines Europeans as falling into 10 haplogroups, known as H, J, K, N1, T, U4, U5, V, X and W. Of interest also was the finding that base pairs 16093 and 16311 were the most variable being found in 7 different sub-clades of haplogroup H. We now extend our genotyping to H1-H15 based on information drawn from these papers mentioned above.

The papers use both control (aka HVR-1 and HVR-2) and coding region mutations to organize the phylogeny of haplogroup H and offer some interesting geographical information not discussed in print before. Further the papers highlight the most polymorphic sites with clade H, based on fast, average and slow mutating sites from within the HVR control region. It’s clear from the study that the wave of the future will be full genome scanning for mitochondria to offer the type of resolution that we have become accustomed to when looking at the non-recombining Y chromosome.

The chart at the top of this page represents a combination of the results from these papers. The second paper, regarding Torroni's work, made minor corrections to the arrangements of the sub-clades on the H sub-clade tree; the chart on this page represents the corrected version.

One interesting note in the papers was that the ancestral haplogroups of H, R0 (formerly Pre-HV) and HV*, appear to be Near/Middle Eastern and Caucasus in origin, which means that those ancestral groups might have started to expand (numerically) and diversify from there.

Our test is based on the most recent and comprehensive scientific research describing the topology of H haplogroup by Achilli et al. 2004 as well as a few from Loogväli et al. 2004. Upon ordering your test, your DNA will be tested for the following complete list of SNPs that are diagnostic for sub-Haplogroups H1-H15: 7028, 3010, 4769, 951, 750, 6776, 14365, 4336, 3915, 6869, 4793, 13101, 3591, 14470, 13759, 3936, 2259, 11377, 6253.

Your final haplogroup designation will be made by the combined evaluation of the results of these positions and the HVR-I and II information that cover any position between 16001-16569 and 00073-00577 respectively.

An abstract of these papers can be found here.
What does my subclade mean to me? We have drawn together descriptions of each branch of haplogroup H, which we include below. Look for your branch in this chart to read a brief summary of what information is available about it so far. If your specific subclade has only a very brief description, it wasn’t detected enough to offer geographically proximity. This is a failure of the sample size studied and not of your sub-branch. Now that several papers have been published certainly others will follow in short order and we expect that those future papers will offer greater sample size and tighter breakdowns to specific geographical locations.
The following is a simplified chart which displays the positions we currently test and their corresponding haplogroups: :




HAPLOGROUP H DESCRIPTIONS

H - Mitochondrial haplogroup H is a predominantly European haplogroup that participated in a population expansion beginning approximately 20,000 years ago.
Today, about 40% of all mitochondrial lineages in Europe are classified as haplogroup H. It is rather uniformly distributed throughout Europe suggesting a major role in the peopling of Europe, and descendant lineages of the original haplogroup H appear in the Near East as a result of migration. Future work will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H* - A Haplogroup assignment of H* indicates that you belong to Haplogroup H, but not to any of the subclades you were tested for and that were known at the time that the test was performed. Since new subclades will continue to be discovered, it is unreasonable and expensive to test for each of the additional subclades after each publication. The best way to resolve a sample that is haplogroup H* is through testing the full mtDNA sequence. This test would provide us with all of the mutations in a person’s mtDNA, which means that that person would never need to do any additional mtDNA testing. Even if they are still H* after the full sequence test, their results can be immediately used to attempt to identify a subclade when new subclades are published.


H1 – H1 is the most common branch of haplogroup H. It represents 30% of people in haplogroup H, and 46% of the maternal lineages in Iberia. 13-14% of all Europeans belong to this branch, and H1 is about 13,000 years old.


H1a – H1a is a branch of H1. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H1b – H1b is detected at its highest frequency in Eastern Europe and North Central Europe. It is also found in about 5% of haplogroup H lineages in Siberian Mansis.


H2 – H2 is somewhat common in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, but likely spread from Western Europe because it is not found in significant frequency in the Near East. It is found in its highest frequency in Germany and Scotland.


H2a – Haplogroup H2a is found most frequently in Eastern Europe, and at a low frequency in Western Europe. Unlike its parent branch H2, H2a’s geographical distribution extends to Central Asia.


H2b – H2b is the branch to which the CRS belongs. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H3 – H3 is the second most common branch of H. Like H1, it is found mainly in Western Europe. However, H3 is not found in significant frequencies in the Near East. It is at its highest frequency in Iberia and Sardinia, and is about 10,000 years old.


H4 – H4 is an uncommon branch and is found at low frequencies in both Europe and the Near East. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.



H5 – H5 is distributed across Iberia, Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, and is also found at low frequencies in the Near East, where it may have originated.


H5a – H5a is found at its highest frequency in Central Europe and is about 7-8 thousand years old. It is found at low frequency in Europe, and since it is not found or is rare in the Caucasus and the Near East it likely has a European origin.


H6 – H6 is an older branch of haplogroup H. Its age is estimated at around 40,000 years. Studies suggest that this haplogroup is Middle Eastern or Central Asian in origin. It is also found at very low frequencies in Europe. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H6a – H6a has similar distribution to its parent branch H6. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H6c – H6c is found at very low frequency, and can be found in European populations. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H7 – H7 is an uncommon branch and is found at low frequencies in both Europe and the Near East. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H8 – Like H6, H8 has roots in the Near East and Central Asia. It is very uncommon in Europe. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H9 – H9 is an uncommon branch of H. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H10 – H10 is an uncommon branch of H. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H11 – H11 is an uncommon branch of H. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H12 – H12 is an uncommon branch of H. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H13 – H13 is an uncommon branch and is found at low frequencies in Europe, the Near East, and the Caucasus. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.

H14 – H14 is an uncommon branch of H. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.


H15 – H15 is an uncommon branch of H. Further research will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.




References






References

Haplogroup H (mtDNA)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Haplogroup H
Possible time of origin25,000-30,000 YBP
Possible place of originSouthwest Asia/Middle East [1]
AncestorHV[1]
DescendantsH1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, H7, H8, H9, H10, H11, H12, H13, H14, H15, H16, H17, H18, H19, H20, H21, H25
Defining mutationsA2706A, C7028C[2]
In human mitochondrial geneticsHaplogroup H is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup that originated in Southwest Asia/Middle East[1] 25,000-30,000 YBP.

Contents

 [hide]

[edit]
Origin

Haplogroup H is a descendant of haplogroup HV. The Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS), the human mitochondrial sequence to which all other sequences are compared, belongs to haplogroup H. Several independent studies conclude that haplogroup H probably evolved in West Asia c. 30,000 years ago having arrived in Europe c. 20-25,000 years ago, spreading rapidly to the southwest of the continent.[3][4] This would make its arrival roughly contemporary with Gravettian culture. They are also coincident in that the spread of subclades H1, H3 and the sister haplogroup V reflect a second intra-European expansion from the Franco-Cantabrian region after the last glacial maximum, c. 13,000 years ago.[1][3]
In July 2008, it was published that the ancient mtDNA from an individual called Paglicci 23 whose remains were dated to 28,000 years ago and excavated from Paglicci Cave (Apulia,Italy) had been found to be identical to the Cambridge Reference Sequence in HVR1. The haplotype was different from all persons that had handled the Paglicci 23 remains since their discovery.[5]

[edit]
Distribution

Haplogroup H is the most common mtDNA haplogroup in Europe.[6] About one half of Europeans are of mtDNA haplogroup H. The haplogroup is also common in North Africa and theMiddle East.[7] The majority of the European populations have an overall haplogroup H frequency of 40%–50%. Frequencies decrease in the southeast of the continent, reaching 20% in the Near East and Caucasus, 17% in Iran, and <10% in the Persian Gulf, Northern India and Central Asia.[1][8]
Among all these clades, the subhaplogroups H1 and H3 have been subject to a more detailed study and would be associated to the Magdalenian expansion from SW Europe c. 13,000 years ago:[3]
Subhaplogroup H1 encompasses an important fraction of Western European mtDNA, reaching its peak among Basques (27.8%) and being also very important among other Iberians,North Africans and Sardinians. It is above 10% in many other parts of Europe (France, British islands, Alps, large portions of Eastern Europe) and above 5% in nearly all the continent.[1]Its subclade H1b is most common in Eastern Europe and NW Siberia.[9]
Subhaplogroup H3 represents a smaller fraction of European genome than H1 but has a somewhat similar distribution with peak among Basques (13.9%), Galicians (8.3%) and Sardinians (8.5%). Its importance decreases towards the northeast of the continent though.[1] Studies have suggested haplogroup H3 is highly protective against AIDS progression.[10]
The remaining subclades are much less frequent:
Subhaplogroup H5
H5 may have evolved in West Asia, where it is most frequent and diverse in the Western Caucasus, but its subclade H5a has a stronger representation in Europe, though at low levels.[11]
Subhaplogroups H2, H6 and H8 are somewhat common in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.[3] They may be the most common H subclades among Central Asians and have also been found in West Asia.[9] H2a5 has been found only in Basque Country, Spain.[12]
Subhaplogroups H4, H7 and H13 are present in both Europe and West Asia, the latter being also found in the Caucasus. They are quite rare.[3] H4 is often found in Iberia.[12]
Subhaplogroup H11 is commonly found in Central Europe.[12]
Subhaplogroups H18 occurs on the Arabian Peninsula. [13]
Subhaplogroups H20 and H21 are both found in the Caucasus region.[14] H20 also appears at low levels in the Iberian Peninsula (less than 1%), Arabian Peninsula (1%) and Near East (2%).[13]

[edit]
Subclades

[edit]
Tree

This phylogenetic tree of haplogroup H subclades is based on the paper by Mannis van Oven and Manfred Kayser Updated comprehensive phylogenetic tree of global human mitochondrial DNA variation[2] and subsequent published research.

[edit]
Popular culture

In his popular book The Seven Daughters of EveBryan Sykes named the originator of this mtDNA haplogroup HelenaStephen Oppenheimer uses the very similar name Helina in his book Origins of the British.