Connections from the 1400s

Question

This may be a tough (or maybe impossible) to figure out, but I've found in my tree a link that goes back to Richard III Plantagenet, House of York, on my father's side. After some additional research, I've discovered that his mt-haplogroup is somewhat rare, and very close to mine. His is J1c2 mine is J1c1. There is also a connection to WIlliam I "The Lion," King of Scotland. Is there any way to check with autosomal DNA any connection I might have? It's centuries apart.

Answer 1

Lisa;

Mitochondria contain DNA which is separate from the rest of DNA in a human.  Autosomal DNA testing examines the DNA which is outside of the mitochondria.  The Mitochondria are individual sub-components of a human cell.

Also, notice that King Richard III has been shown to have J1c2c3 mitochondrial DNA:  Following link is to a paper on his mito DNA: King Richard III 

So, autosomal DNA testing can not be used to establish a match (if any) with the mitochondria.

Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from ones mother direct material line.  That tends to be a relatively narrow band of ancestors. 

Autosomal inheritance on the other hand is widely branching.  Many more people can identify genealogical connections that way.  So, pretty much everybody with deep English ancestors can be traced back to the Plantagenets.

Comments

Thank you Andrew! DNA is another area in which we could improve our use of the data to understand how we connect on our tree.