Akar Nusa
A grandfather, his son, and his son's son stand in a row. They share a thread that none of the women in the family carry in the same way.
The story
Boys have an X and a Y chromosome. Girls have two X. The Y is handed from father to son, so it follows the father's father's father line. Women do not have a Y, so a woman who wants to learn her father line can ask a brother, her father or an uncle.
Like the mother line, small changes build up over time. Scientists use them to sort men into father-line families, named by letters and a mark such as O-M119.
Scientists compared hundreds of Y chromosomes from around the world. They found that the main father lines outside Africa appeared close together in time, about 47,000 to 52,000 years ago. That fits a picture of people spreading out quickly across Eurasia and beyond.
Where you can still see it today
In many families, a surname or a family name passes along the father line, too. The DNA thread and the name can sometimes run side by side. They can also split apart, because of adoption, marriage customs or a change of name, so the name is not a proof.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
It can tell a man's father-line family and its old journey. Our free family lines include stories such as O-M119 (The seafarers' father line), O-M268 (The line of the rice lands), O-M324 (China's most common father line), O-M175 (East Asia's great father line), R-M420 (A Central and South Asian line) and H-M69 (An old line of India).
It cannot speak for the whole family. It is one thread. It cannot say race, faith or status. See "Why DNA does not prove race, religion or bumiputera status". It also says nothing about your mother's side.
