Y-SNP

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Y-SNPs are single-nucleotide changes on the Y chromosome that are used in paternal genealogical DNA testing. An SNP is a change to one nucleotide in DNA. These mutations occur very slowly, so Y-SNPs help trace the human family tree. SNP names have a letter and a number: the letter shows which lab found it, and the number shows the order of discovery. For example, M173 is the 173rd SNP documented by the Stanford Human Population Genetics Laboratory, which uses the letter M.