DNA Signatures - Introduction
A DNA signature is some kind of family name for a
pioneer. yDNA is transmitted by the father to his sons with almost
no change furing about 10 generations so that the male descendants
have a coherent signature with from time to time a random change
or mutation, On a thousands years scale, these mutations help to
identify a family.
Women have no yDNA. However, the mother transmits
(except very not frequent cases) her mitochondries to her
children. Those small organisms have their own DNA, called mtDNA,
so that we can also get a DNA signature for our pioneers.
This catalogue has only triangulations. In each
case, there are at least 2 documented family line to descendants
who tested their DNA
The signature sheets
The first line of a signature sheet will identify
the pioneer of the line. It is usually the pioneer or gateway
ancestor, i.e. the person who was on the ship that sailed to the
colony. This catalogue is about the colonials who left France so
that the title is usually the ship's passenger, with his spouse
and the year of marriage, sometimes accurate, sometimes
approximate.
If brothers (or sisters for mtDNA signatures) came,
and parents are known and both brothers have a living male
descendancy, the title line has those parents. If parents are
unknown, the title is about the brothers. The siblings have the
code [+1].
In some cases, we have cousins. The Lemieux are all
connected and there is one sheet with the name of the cousins. The
Gagnon are on separate sheets, the common ancestor being unknown.
In this case, the code is [+2]. Two Gauthier have a coherent yDNA
signature.
The ideal triangulation is about 2 sons of the
gateway ancestor. But, this is not always possible. For instances,
the pioneer may have only one son, or his second sont has no son
or grand-son. Sometimes, no descendant tested his yDNA. The code
can look like [-1] meaning the triangulation can be improved. In
June 2018, there were one triangulation with [-5] and seven with
[-4].
The next part is the signature itself, that is an
haplogroup which is a summary, and the haplotype with the details.
Follows the genealogical proof, i.e. the family
lines. If the marriage occured before 1722, there is a link to the
family sheet. Otherwise, only the family sheet number is given.
The bottom of the page has more details like the
contributors and the DNA laboratory.
The mtDNA sheets have the same format.
The yDNA (or Y-DNA) signatures (fathers lines)
The haplogroup is displayed with two formats. The
summary has the reference group (this will help you to find more
details on sites like Eupedia) and the most recent mutation (or
SNP) called apical or terminal.
The extended haplogroup shows the intermediate
mutations (or SNPs) already published for this family. For exampe,
the DNA of the author (Jarret dit Beauregard) had the terminal SNP
presented as:
In this example, the summary is R1b-M269→Y41710,
i.e. R1b
which is decribed in the Eupedia web site, M269 which is the main
mutation (about 40% of French men) and Y41710 which is the most
recent mutation (or terminal SNP).
The haplotype is a series of STR markers that helps
to identify this signature. The STR are statistical values (number
of occurences of a given sequence) while the SNP are values
measured in a specific position of the Y chromosome. The haplotype
is used by FTDNA to find possible cousins.
Keep in mind that the STRs are derived. You can
derive in both directions and this is random. The SNP are mostly
definitive.
The mtDNA signatures (mothers lines)
The haplogroup is a summary of the signature. It
may have many formats and can be estimated from a non-complete
test.
A complete haplogroupe has a format like H7b6, each digit or letter being a modification of a previous haplogroup. So, H7b6 is a modification of H7b which a version of H7, a descendant of H. There can be many subgroups. Thus, there are H1 and H86, H1a and H1ae, etc. Also, there is HV as an initial letter. In some cases, the subgroup is named by adding or removing a SNP, which gives for example K1a-T195C! (deleted) or H5a1-T16093C (added).
The haplotype is the list of mutations or SNPs from
a reference. The default values on FTDNA are based on the RSRS
refernce, so that you can compare your results quickly. Another
reference rCRS is used by many scientific papers and is defined as
the mutation from the European Eve (or the haplogroup H). If there
is no modification from the rCRS reference, the haplotype is
displayed as CRS.
The haplotype is divided in 3 parts : HVR1 (Highly Volatile Region), HVR2 and CR (Coding Region). HVR1 is the top of the chromosome (positions 16000 and more) and HVR2 is in the bottom. CR is the middle part and is often considered as confidential. The haplogroupe can be estimated from only the HVR1 or HVR1 and HVR2. It is then not complete, usually shown as only one initial letter. In this database, only the HVR2 and HVR1 are shown.
Sources of signatures
This catalogue is based on (and replace) the
catalogue maintained previously by Jacques Beaugrand who
contributed with Doug Miller, Jean-Pierre Gendreau-Hétu, Denis
Beauregard and many more contributors. Most triangulations are
from this catalogue. The North American lines were all verified by
Denis Beauregard.
Most signatures were obtained from projects at the
laboratory Family Tree
DNA or FTDNA. The author has a private access to this set of
private information, so as to confirm the genealogical lines. If
you manage a project, you can invite Denis Beauregard as a
co-admin to add your lines to this catalogue. If you participate
to a project, your signature could be grouped with other
descendants. Each project is independant and you must join a
project to be grouped.
The
French Heritage Project (in the series of Dual Geographical
projects), is the main project of Denis Beauregard. Beginning in
2003, this project has now over 8000 members.
The projects Québec ADNy
and ADNmt
focus on descendants of Quebec's pioneers.
There are more projects about Acadians (like
Acadian Heritage), regions of France, family names, etc.