The Knowles Surname DNA Project can not benefit from and therefore does not use the mtDNA tests.  However, some participants of the Knowles Project will no doubt decide to obtain an mtDNA test.  Therefore, some basic information concerning the understanding of mtDNA test results will be provided in the Knowles Surname Project Status Reports.

Both males and females inherit mtDNA from their mother, and only the females pass on mtDNA.  Your mtDNA represents your direct female line, which would be your mother, her mother, and so forth.  Therefore, both males and females can take the mtDNA test, to learn about their direct female line.  Your mtDNA can be traced back thousands or even 10's of thousands of years to a specific Haplogroup.

Your mtDNA Haplogroup defines which female was your very distant ancestor, popularly known as the Daughter of Eve or the Clan Mother.  There are two mtDNA tests available from Family Tree DNA:

mtDNA

mtDNA Plus

The test called mtDNA will test one region of the mtDNA providing the results for this region, and identifying your Haplogroup.  The mtDNA Plus test includes the mtDNA test, and also tests a second region of your mtDNA.  These regions of mtDNA tested are called HVR-1 and HVR-2.  HVR stands for Hyper Variable Region, and is known interchangeable as Hyper Variable Segment, or HVS.

HRV1 and HVR2 are known as the 'control region' are the areas of mtDNA that contain no personal information (i.e. HVR-1 and 2 are not part of the 'coding region') and have the fastest rate of change, or mutation, of any region in the mtDNA.  That is why the anthropological community has focused on them for population genetics.  Even though HRV1 and HVR2 provide the fastest mutation rates for mtDNA, the rate of change is much slower than the Markers tested on Y-DNA.  The mtDNA test is often called an anthropology test, since mtDNA mutates very very slowly, much more slowly than the locations tested on the Y-chromosome.

For this reason, only exact matches are provided when you click the "mtDNA Matches" selection on your Personal Page at Family Tree DNA.  Simply put, miss matches on mtDNA have no potential for genealogical value.  Since mtDNA mutates very slowly, if you are interested in finding matches to others, or using mtDNA for genealogy purposes, it is important to take the mtDNAPlus test.  If you have already taken the mtDNA test (formerly known as Maternal Match), you can upgrade to the mtDNA Plus test.  The addition of testing the second mtDNA region, HVR-2, will shorten the lengthy time frame of any matches.  If you have taken the mtDNA test, you can easily upgrade to the DNAPlus test.  On your Personal Page at Family Tree DNA, click on the link 'Order Tests'.

If you only take the mtDNA test, those who you match randomly are most likely not related in any genealogical time frame. If you are looking to find others who are related in a genealogical time frame, then it is essential to take the mtDNA Plus test.

The chart below shows the time frame for your common ancestor for a random mtDNA match.

Test Time Frame of Common Ancestor for a Match

mtDNA:    50% of the time, 52 generations or less

mtDNA Plus:    50% of the time, 28 generations or less

These time frames are for random matches.  When you are utilizing mtDNA testing for genealogical purposes, you have identified the ancestors or potential ancestors, so the time frames shown above are not relevant.  The results for a mtDNA test tell you about your most distant female ancestor, who might be popularly known as a Clan Mother.  You can take a mtDNA test to learn about your direct female line.  If you are at all interested in finding genealogically relevant mtDNA matches, it is important to take the mtDNA Plus test.