The U198 SNP Atlas
The availability of affordable SNP testing through both “next generation sequencing” and standalone SNP tests has led to a revolution in our understanding of the structure of haplogroups such as R-U198. It is also leading to great advances within family (surname) projects with the ability to identify specific branches within a family and sometimes even attribute a SNP marker to an actual named ancestor. This is shifting the focus away from Y-STRs (originally the basis of surname projects) and towards Y-SNPs. For a simple explanation of these terms, please see the explanation of STR & SNP markers.
The R-U198 project works closely with YDNA testing companies to name our new SNP discoveries, develop our haplogroup tree and make selected SNPs available for cheap standalone testing. This can greatly assist family research through SNP study projects. We use the “JFS” prefix for our SNP discoveries and, as we apply this to R-U198 SNPs only, one can generally be confident that a positive result for a JFS-series SNP means one belongs to R-U198. Please note we cannot rule out the possibility of an independent (parallel) occurrence of any mutation so it’s always possible a JFS-series SNP might crop up outside of R-U198 but this is not common and we can work around it.
The Family Tree DNA haplotree is particularly good as they have extensive data from their “Big Y” test and have worked closely with our project in developing our section of the tree. However we have also been able to add extra detail (from other SNP tests, particularly at Full Genomes Corporation and YSEQ) to develop our own haplotree.
We have used the concept of a “SNP Atlas”. Of course this is not geographical but it is structured in a similar way to an atlas, starting with a chart of the R-U198 “world” and then opening pages which focus in more detail on individual branches. You may explore here Click to view Atlas
Return to U198 Home Page - Go to U198 tree - Go to Page 5-Discussion