Question about mtDNA testing??

Question

I'm quite interested in using DNA to establish ancestry. As people familiar with mitrochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing will know, there are two two types of mtDNA tests done to determine a Haplogroup: HVR1 and HVR2 tests.

If two people -- Person A and Person B -- have HVR1 tests which determine that they are of the same Haplogroup and had the EXACT same HVR1 sequence results, would that determine that the two people share the same common maternal ancestor, or would an HVR2 test have to be performed on both people to find out for sure?

I know this is a weird question, but if anyone out there knows anything about mtDNA testing, I'd be curious to find out.

Answer 1

I can't really answer the question in detail, but the HVR2 test would confirm the common ancestory. It's possible that mutations of HVR1 occurred such that, for example, the common ancestor had a 'A' nucleotide, whereas person X has A and person Y has A. But the ancestor of person Y may have had a 'C' which was subsequently mutated to an A. This becomes much less probable if multiple loci are examined.

What about Y chromosome tests or microsatellites?