Y DNA 101

[darkerhorse]

I know about males inheriting their Y haplogroup from father to son.

Do males inherit the entire Y DNA or just a portion of the Y DNA known as the haplogroup?

Is Y DNA synonymous with the Y chromosome, meaning the gender chromosome pair, as in xx for females and xy for males? If yes, wouldn't that mean all males in the same paternal line have the identical y in their xy chromosome pair?

[MarcuccioV]

I know about males inheriting their Y haplogroup from father to son.

Do males inherit the entire Y DNA or just a portion of the Y DNA known as the haplogroup?

Is Y DNA synonymous with the Y chromosome, meaning the gender chromosome pair, as in xx for females and xy for males? If yes, wouldn't that mean all males in the same paternal line have the identical y in their xy chromosome pair?

Yes, Y-DNA is the Y (paternal) chromosome. It is passed as you describe, from father to son (only). Therefore it follows the direct male line. Haplogroups can have minor mutations, but these are generally rare & can be thousands of years apart. So the identical haplogroup will remain the same for many, many generations in most cases on the Y-DNA line.

Males get the complete Y-DNA from their fathers, plus X-DNA from their mothers. Females get X-DNA from both, but can only pass on their mtDNA (to both sexes of children). There are many articles about it online...