Mitochondrial DNA

[MarcuccioV]

In other words, it was brought to Sicily from some other place and then changed there.

U3b2 was a genetic mutation of U3b, so just like ANY mtDNA line, it eventually gets back to mt "Eve".

Where U3b mutated into U3b2 is unknown, but it settled in those 4 places. That's why it's considered as "originating" there. My guess would be it likely mutated in Turkey (where other U3 haplotypes exist) and spread to Sicily, Hungary & possibly even Arabia from there.

When I did some investigating of the U3b2 subclade, about 75% of the examples (currently living people) trace their ancestry back to Sicily. It's uncommon even in those other 3 locations & only makes up about 3% of the Sicilian population. So it's extremely uncommon.

Between that and the ethnicity mixes indicating at least some Sicilian, I have to connect those dots. Although I do have the West Asian mix also, it only averages about 1-2% of the total (2-4% of the Italian half).

Also be aware that at least some northern NA ancestries resemble those of Scandinavia and even Northern Russia.

[MarcuccioV]

I checked my U3 project page from FTDNA. There aren't many U3b2's listed. 1 from Turkey, several from Macedonia (which likely migrated from Turkey), a few from Hungary/Czech, and several from Sicily (varying regions). Interestingly, one was from Tufano (Frosinone) which is an area where I believe my grandmother had some undocumented ancestry. So that could possibly be a clue as to where the Sicilian U3b2 stopped prior to going further north, or it could just be a coincidental red herring.

Since I have no Hungarian or Czech ancestry (nor Macedonian, for that matter, only traces of Greek), but do show moderately strong ties to Sicily, it must have come from that route somehow...

[darkerhorse]

I think being able to trace a given family line over time is very desirable. Of course, the surname line (Y DNA) has obvious appeal, at least for men because they retain their surnames.

However, in the scope of things, two family lines out of multiple lines is very limited, but you work with what you have.

Would you say that the MtDNA has done more to add new information or to confirm the paper trail?

[darkerhorse]

I should have asked: Would you say that MtDNA has done more to add new information or to confirm the paper trail and other DNA testing results?

[MarcuccioV]

I should have asked: Would you say that MtDNA has done more to add new information or to confirm the paper trail and other DNA testing results?

Added and confirmed. In my case it at least partially confirmed where the Sicilian in my DNA results came from. It's possible that it also was reinforced by other sources in my Italian lines, but to have a more concrete connection was a huge bonus. It gives me a point of focus even though I'm currently stonewalled on that line...

[MarcuccioV]

Based upon my findings of Ancient Sicilian on my C-17, it clears up and clouds my mtDNA findings. It could very well be the source of the U3b2, but again no timeline as mtDNA doesn't mutate often so it could have remained constant those entire 4k years.

Of my 3 closest mtDNA relatives (according to FTDNA), all 3 are Sicilian-based...

In your case, I think a Y-DNA report would probably show similar findings (although Y-DNA DOES mutate more often than mtDNA)...