A Newfoundland genealogist has stumbled onto a rare and mysterious DNA quirk that he says could tell the untold story of the island’s first European settlers.
David Pike, a mathematics professor and genealogist, said the rare mitochondrial DNA profile caught his attention over a decade ago when it began popping up frequently in test results for a Newfoundland and Labrador genealogy project. The profile — called H5a5, plus another unnamed mutation — is likely European in origin. It has appeared in about 10 per cent of the 264 people across the province who have supplied mitochondrial DNA for the online project.
Log in to leave a comment. Sign In / Sign Up