How do Haplogroups work and Maternal DNA?

For example from my maternal line, would my haplogroup be my Mom's or a combination of My mom and her Dad?



Also the DNA from my mom is it strictly hers and what was passed down through the mothers or does the husbands DNA get mixed in there at all.



I thought I understood the DNA but the replies you guys have gave me in my other questions had my thinking all wrong.



Thanks again for all the very informative information and how to go about my research in a logical manner.How do Haplogroups work and Maternal DNA?
Well, this is well beyond what can be described in this forum. You might get some top level description, but it is exceptionally complicated....one of the things that the ancestral DNA testing places bank on.



While haplogroups (markers) can be determined, what they mean is another story. In the REAL world of genetics, it is constantly evolving and in that world, it is recognized that to say that some historic population had a specific haplogroup, without direct and significant DNA examination of "remains" from that group, is quite simply reverse engineering. Not exact at all (which leads to terms such as "more likely").



So the meaning of any DNA testing is really based on whatever database (and update of that database) the specific testing site uses - and what "discoveries" have been made in the last month.



So if you absolutely want to know your ancestry, make sure you only get ONE test done. Then you will know for sure. But if you dare to get two or more done, you will never know for sure because they will in many cases have different results and interpretations. Even if you don't consider the 300 "uncontrolled points" where contamination can occur, lack of quality control in doing in one day the number of analyses that the top of the line labs do forensically in a year, or just that the minimum wage person put the wrong identifier number on the sample right after they made sure the check cleared.



Sort of like time....a man with one watch always knows what time it is...a man with two watches is never sure.



There has never been any independent validation of the accuracies of any ancestral DNA testing. Though the ancestral DNA testing sites sure act like there has been.How do Haplogroups work and Maternal DNA?
The basic form of the genetics testing is done on the male Y chromosome. This is passed intact from father to son. The mother's DNA doesn't enter into it. This is the method most widely used right now. The MTDNA test is using the DNA found in organelles in the cells. The mitochrondia, this organelle burns the sugar and provides energy to the cell. This part of the cell is part of the mother's contribution to your make up and is a part of the orginal egg cell. Thus it is passed intact from mother to daughter/son. The father's DNA wouldn't as a result be involved in this portion of the cell at all. This part of the DNA test isn't as well studied and in fact is not as well known. Bascially all they are able to do at the present is figure out geological orgins of the mother at the present time. This test is also much more expensive than the YDNA study.