American i1

[futhark]

I'm very new to all of this. At the request of my sister, I took a DNA test from 23andme.com and I have been assigned the paternal i1 haplogroup. There was no subclade assigned. 23andme.com simply lists me as i1. Am I i1 M253? Is this unusual, and what does it mean?

 

[pyromatic]

If you are I1 per 23andme, then you would be M253+, which is just one of the many different SNPs (a kind of mutation) which define the YDNA haplogroup I1. It's not unusual to be a member. I1 is strongly a northern European haplogroup; so being a member of it would suggest your paternal line likely immigrated from somewhere in northern Europe (UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, western Finland, etc). 23andme's test is a great intro test to consumer genetics, as you get a sample of all the different things you can do with it (medical propensity, autosomal traits, some autosomal genetic genealogy, etc), but being the jack of all trades means it's the master of none; so if you are looking to your Y chromosome for clues to your paternal line, you would likely require different, more specialized tests.

 

[futhark]

Thanks pyromaniac. Great explanation. I'm curious how 23andme.com compares with ancestry.com as far as DNA testing is concerned. I noticed 23andme has its own forum here so I assume its probably the best place to start.

 

[pyromatic]

I would say what you may consider testing next really depends on the question you're looking to answer. If you want to find other men to whom you're related through your male line, consider doing a STR-based test, like what familytreedna offers. STRs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsatellite) are another kind of mutation which tend to vary more from generation to generation and so are useful for looking for recent ancestry. Your overall STR profile (haplotype) may also suggest a subclade to which you belong and may guide you in selecting some targeted SNPs to confirm that.

If you're not really sure where you'd like to go from your 23andme results, you might just sit tight and research things a bit more before spending the money.

 

[Moi-même]

Ancestry doesn't do y-DNA and mt-DNA anymore. Family Tree DNA do much more precise Y-DNA tests, but they are much more costy as well. You need to plan carefully what you will buy and often wait for the right sales to show up. I suggest to go for Big Y on sales right away instead of buying snp packs.

 

[futhark]

Thank you both for the help. I will consider further testing should the right sale come along. I'm thinking it may be wise to wait a few years to do any further testing to allow for more knowledge to be made known to us. I believe for now I'll just sit back and learn more what there is to know about these things. It seems I have only dipped my toe into what appears to be a very deep ocean.