Haplogroup facts for kids

     Ancestral Haplogroup      Haplogroup A (Hg A)     Haplogroup B (Hg B) All of these molecules are part of the ancestral haplogroup.
At some time, a mutation occurred in the ancestral molecule, mutation A, which produced a new lineage. This is haplogroup A, defined by mutation A.
Later, a new mutation, mutation B, occurred in a person carrying haplogroup A. Mutation B defined haplogroup B. Haplogroup B is a subgroup of haplogroup A. Both haplogroups A and B are subgroups of the ancestral haplogroup

A haplogroup is a group of single chromosomes, or single DNA strands, which share a common ancestor. They have the same mutation in all versions.

Haplogroups show deep ancestral origins dating back thousands of years.

In human genetics, the haplogroups usually studied are Y-chromosome (Y-DNA) haplogroups and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups. Both can be used to define genetic populations. Y-DNA is passed only from father to son, while mtDNA is passed only from mother to children. Neither recombines, and thus Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutations with no intermixture between parents' genetic material.

Related pages

• J1 (Y-DNA)

Images for kids

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  Y-DNA haplogroups map of the world

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  Human migrations and mitochondrial haplogroups

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  Map of human haplotype migration, according to mitochondrial DNA, with key (coloured) indicating periods in numbered thousands of years before the present.

See also

In Spanish: Haplogrupo para niños