Page 13 - O Mahony Journal 2025

An exact or very close cousin match through a full-sequence test is likely to be related
within a more recent timeframe- within the last 500 years or so.

This can aid researchers in locating shared maternal ancestors on family trees.

• Matching levels

There are three sections of mtDNA used for matching: HVR1, HVR2, and the Coding
Region.

● HVR1 - Considered a low-resolution region. Matching on HVR1 means that you
have a 50% chance of sharing a common maternal ancestor within the last 52
generations (or about 1,300 years).
● HVR2 - One of the two mtDNA hypervariable regions used in genealogical DNA
testing. HVR2 is considered a high-resolution region. Matching on both HVR1
and HVR2 means that you have a 50% chance of sharing a common maternal
ancestor within the last 28 generations (or about 700 years).

• Coding Region - Matching at HVR1, HVR2, and the coding region brings your
matches into more recent times. It means that you have a 50% chance of
sharing a common maternal ancestor within the last 5-16 generations (or about
125-400 years).

The closeness of a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) match depends on the matching level. Matches at higher
levels are more likely to be recent.
https://help.familytreedna.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411203181711-Our-mtDNA-Test#direct-maternal-line-0-0

General interpretations:
1. 3Haplogroup H is the most common and most diverse maternal lineage
in Europe, in most of the Near East and in the Caucasus region. The Saami
of Lapland are the only ethnic group in Europe who have low percentages
of haplogroup H, varying from 0% to 7%. The frequency of haplogroup H in
Europe usually ranges between 40% and 50%. Haplogroup H possesses
approximately 90 basal subclades identified to date, most of which are further
subdivided in other subclades. The most common subclades are H1, H2, H3,
H4, H5, H6, H7, H10, H11, H13, H14 and H20. The Cambridge Reference
Sequence (CRS), the human mitochondrial sequence to which all other
sequences are compared, belongs to haplogroup H2a2a.

2. Haplogroup H1 is by far the most common subclade in Europe, representing approximately than half of
the H lineages in Western Europe. Roostalu et al. (2006) estimate that H1 arose around 22,500 years ago.
https://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_H_mtDNA.shtml

3. Mutations give rise to Subclades.

The basis for a subclade is a mutation to a haplogroup. The establishment of
a sub-clade normally requires multiple mutations to a DNA sequence.

A list of some of the mutations that give rise to a mtDNA Subclade can be found here: https://www.familytreedna.
com/mtdna-haplogroup-mutations.aspx

13