Let’s keep it simple and to the point:
Y-DNA
Y-DNA is the male DNA string. If you are a man, you carry your dad’s, granddad’s and so forth.
Even if the vast majority of your family doesn’t carry ancestry associated with it, this will be the marker stuck with you. If you are female, you will not show it.
MtDNA
This is the female marker and the same thing applies: Let’s say it is a rare marker that originates in South East Asia… even if all the rest of your family is European, this is the one you test for.
Autosomal DNA
Autosomal DNA is a term used in genetic genealogy to describe DNA which is inherited from the autosomal chromosomes. An autosome is any of the numbered chromosomes, as opposed to the sex chromosomes. Humans have 22 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes (the X chromosome and the Y chromosome). Unlike y-DNA and mtDNA, autosomal DNA is being inherited through a collection of ancestors regardless of direct all-male or all-female line.
You will often hear the claim that DNA and blood types are not connected. When for example someone asks “Do I have Asian ancestry, because my blood type is B”, this answer would be common, but incorrect.
It is commonly agreed upon, that blood type B originates in Asia. So if you have a blood type which originated in Asia, you must have gotten it from somewhere, right? And the correct answer is of course “from Asia”.
It could technically be a single ancestor many generations ago. There have been many disputed guesses such as “blood type B is only 1,000 years old”, but looking at more than half of the ancient Hebrew skeletons testing for blood type AB, that is of course impossible.
Are certain y-DNA markers and mtDNA markers more common among rh negatives than others?
Of course. But you can be rh negative and have any type of y-DNA or mtDNA marker.
But just as y-DNA and mtDNA frequencies differ by locations, so do blood types. And we can now examine some areas where rh negative blood is the most frequent:
Y-DNA R1b is most common in locations such as Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Basque Country and Catalonia.
National levels are often less informative to observe. Therefore it is also important to mention that Ireland might not be the highest on a national level, yet North-West Ireland is the highest on a regional level with over 98% R1b. Likely, R1b was brought to all of the above locations by the Yamna men who migrated from the Black Sea region towards the west at different times and in different spurs. The original Basques were not R1b and their male line has been replaced by them.
All of the above locations also (except from Wales) have at least 20% rh negatives.
The frequency of rh negative people among men who carry y-DNA R1b appears to be the highest today.
But if you are a regular reader on this blog, you probably know that my focus is not so much today, but the rh negative ancestors. What were the rh negative frequencies 1,000s of years ago based on ancient locations?
This is where it gets most interesting. As stated, Proto-Celts invaded the Proto-Basques. A lot of shifts have taken place. So what interests me the most is going back in time and getting closer to societies where rh negative frequencies were much higher than anywhere today before the many tribes of the world began to mix.