DNA-RESEARCHFOR GENEALOGY, ARCHEOLOGYAND LOCAL HISTORY
DNA-research is themost spectacular newcomer in the genealogicalfield:it allows usto detect kinship and toestablish the whole migration historyofhomo sapiens.All of our 46 chromosomesarecomposed by twoDNA-strings containing about 1 milliardof building blocks, the nucleotides.TheDNAresearch is basedon the analysisofthe male Y-chromosomewhich is inheritedexclusivelyfromfather to son.Scientistsread the sequence of the nucleotides and thus determine for each individualthe typicalsequence orhaplotype.
Our cellscontain twokinds of DNA: thenuclear-orY-DNA and the mitochondrial ormtDNAwhichis inherited via the female line.The DNA-stringsare copying themselves to formnew cells.During this process errors occur,mutations,which are transmitted via the next copy session to the followinggeneration.There are two kinds of mutations.The rarepointmutation(SNP) or snip,occursby both men and women only once in circa 1 million generations on a given place on the chromosome.It is very appropriate to study human migration orgenography. This opens perspectivesfor the studyofregional and local history.The repetitive mutation(STR)occursat averageonce per 182 generations, butonly by men.By comparison of the STR-values it is possible to determine mutual relationship.It is potentially possible to compare them also with ancient DNA fromarcheologicexcavations, but is technically very difficult and costly.
Comparing the haplotypes of several men one can subdivide them worldwide intosome 20 largehaplogroups.Thanks to the snips these haplogroups can be subdivided into subhaplogroups. Put simply:men belonging to a samehaplo- and subhaplogroup, are descendants of acommon ancestor.This is the basis ofgeneticgenealogy.
To combine DNA-researchwithclassical genealogicalresearch is theaimof the DNA-projectsset up by Familiekunde Vlaanderen, the Flemish Genealogical Society,(actually over1240participants). After having determinedtheir haplo- and subhaplogroup the participantsweremutuallycompared. The conclusion was that42,63 %of them were genetically related.Thismeansthat they had a common ancestor betweennow and about 1000 yearsago.A unique result. The project therefore arousednotableinternational interest.In the meantimethe results have been published in two books: DNA Brabant and DNA België (info at
discovered subhaplogroups may cause a change in the relationship rate.
This type of DNA-researchhas nothing to do with medical orjudicialpurposes. A DNA-sample is taken by scraping abit of buccal mucosa with two small brushes inside the mouth.This sample is analysedat the universityof Leuven(Louvain) and after about 2 monthsthe participant receivesa certificatewithhis personal results.By comparing these results with those of other participants we determine theirdegree of mutual relationship.
Familiekunde Vlaanderen continues this project, now baptized BENELUX PROJECTaccessibleforeveryonewithancestorsin the present Benelux countries and the adjacent areasof France, Germany and the UK.Everymale,without any distinction of nationality or origin, can join the project.Those interested, can download the textswith theconditions of participation,our privacypolicyand aregistration form from the website
this fails to download, one can apply directly to the project leader by mailing in order to acquire the texts and the registration form. Familiekunde Vlaanderen also participates in various projects of the KU Leuven.