R1b is the most common European haplogroup for males. The current nomenclature is R-M269. Within that very large group is another subgroup, who are the most common of the most common. That's the Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype or WAMH.
What this Backbone panel is going to do is to refine and break these subgroups down on the tree of mankind. So instead of being R-M269, you could be R-P312, R-S1051, R-L21, etc. So that means at Thanksgiving you can say that you're no longer R-M269, but R-####. Everyone's eyes will glaze over like they have had too much turkey! All joking aside though...no, it's not going to help with your genealogy per se. It really more anthropological in nature. At least at this time. There is a thought that there may be familial SNPs. This science is pretty new. I don't think that means that there's a Mello SNP, a Barbosa SNP, an Avelar SNP. I think it may mean that there's a SNP that the Mello & Barbosa families descend from, for example. It's still a developing science and they are making discoveries. No one has a crystal ball to say what the end result is. I think they are advertising 135 for SNPs in a package for $79 instead of $99. Normally, it $39 per SNP. So to order 135 SNPs would be a few thousand dollars. So if you have the extra $79 and are willing to contribute your Y-DNA (or the Y-DNA of the male you tested) to this growing science, do it! Just understand that you're not getting genealogy out of it a this time. You may be leaving a legacy for the future! Cheri Mello Family Tree DNA Admin (volunteer) Azores DNA Project -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
