Schlebusch Y-chromosome project(This section will be written in English as international participation and contributions are welcome)
About ancestry testing Ancestry testing involves the tracing of certain genetic lines and their classification into specific groups called haplogroups. Two possible lines can be traced namely the Y-chromosome line and the mitochondrial line. Mitochondria The mitochondrial DNA is a small piece of DNA transmitted exclusively through the maternal line. This piece of DNA is transmitted from mother to daughter without any recombination with paternal inherited DNA. Thus by typing this piece of DNA you can determine your maternal lineage. This is your mothers, mothers, mothers, etc lineage only. Y-Chromosome Equivalent to the mitochondria there is a piece of DNA (actually a whole chromosome, the Y-chromosome) that is transmitted in the paternal line only. Thus, a father will transfer this piece of DNA to his son and the son again to his son, etc. but again by typing this line you get only the ancestry of your fathers, fathers, fathers, etc. line. Another marker that run in the paternal line only and are transmitted from father to son, is a surname. Thus one will expect that surnames and Y-chromosomes will follow the same path. Out of this follows that if a surname had only one founder all carriers of that surname should carry the same Y-chromosome signature. A website with a very nice description of what ancestry testing is about is available here
We know that Schlebusch people in South Africa had one founding father - Johannes Antonius Schlebusch. Therefore all males carrying the Schlebusch surname should carry the same Y-chromosome signature or profile. By typing a few Schlebusch males one can thus quickly establish the Schlebusch signature. Then by comparing this signature to worldwide databases one can see where other people carrying this signature comes from. So far I have the signature of one Schlebusch male (my father Charel Johannes Schlebusch born 11/9/1946). By typing his "signature" or STR profile we got the following result:
The column headings are the markers tested for, in this case 11 STR (short tandem repeat) markers. The numbers indicate repeat lengths. Different males present with different length repeats of these DNA entities present on the Y-chromosome. The combination of these different repeat lengths gives a male a specific signature or fingerprint that he will only share with males related to him through his direct paternal line - thus males carrying his surname. Thus Schlebusch males in South Africa should all carry this signature or a closely related signature. When mutations happen in the repeat sequences one or more of the sites may gain or loose a repeat motif. For instance if there is a gain of 1 repeat in locus DYS439 it will no longer be 11 but 12. The mutation tempo of STR markers in the Y-chromosome is slow (1 per 500 transmissions) therefore the Y-STR profile in the Schlebusch male of SA can vary in maximum one or two repeat variations. Before any such tests are concidered individuals must be sure that they want to know their results. If one male in a surname group with one founder have a different profile than the common profile of that surname it means that somewhere in transmission of the surname from founder through the generations to the individual the Y-chromosome was not transmitted together with the surname. This can be due to various factors like adoption, females that kept surnames, and adultery. Ancestry testing is thus a sensitive issue and careful consideration must be given before testing is attempted. When the first 10 markers in the Schlebusch profile given above is matched against a worldwide Y-STR database (YHRD) the following matches were found: Blue dots are areas represented by the database and red dots are hits. In total there were 9 hits with 8 in Europe and 1 in North America. Details of hits are given below. Two hits were in Germany. The presence of the profile in an African American individual is probably because of geneflow from white populations into African Americans.
The 10 marker profile used above however only represent 45% of the YHRD database. If only the 8 markers are used 96% of the database is represented and the search look as follows: It is very obvious that the highest concentration of matches is in Europe in the vicinity of Germany. This is what we more or less would expect for the Schlebusch surname. A detailed breakdown of matches is given below:
Participation Contribution to this web page of any males that carry the surname Schlebusch (local and international) that had their ancestry testing done would be appreciated. You can email me your YSTR profile and I will either add your profile anonymously or with your details (at your request). It does not matter if you had fewer or more markers tested, I will add your whole profile and highlight markers that compare. If you haven't yet had ancestry done and are interested in testing your paternal (Y-chromosome) and maternal (mitochondrial) lines, read below.
Ancestry testing - practical questions: Where: Ancestry testing are done by various international and one local organisations. In South Africa the only site that does ancestry testing is the HGDDRU laboratory at the University of the Witwatersrand. You can contact them at 011-489 9237 and talk to arrange for your testing. Price: DNA testing is not cheap though. Males can be tested for both maternal and paternal lines for R1200.00 and females for the maternal line only for R800.00. Males that test only their paternal line pay less. What do I do: If you stay close to our laboratory in Braamfontein they arrange a information session (call 011-489 9237 for an appointment) where you come in to the lab and they have a 30 min discussion with you to explain what they do and what kind of results you can expect. They then take your DNA sample using a cheek swab. You take a small brush (similar to a little toothbrush) and rub it in the inside of your cheek to get some of your cheek cells. They then suspend the cheek cells in a buffer solution and from these they will extract your DNA. Laboratory testing takes more or less 3 weeks after which you will come in again and your results will be explained to you. You also receive a report which give you your Y-chromosome and mitochondrial lineages and explain about your lineage history. If you do not stay close they can do it by mail as well. You call and give them your address and they send you the DNA brush kit with all the instructions how to use it. You then send them your DNA sample back and they test it. After they got the results they email or postal mail you back the results.
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