Mitochondrial Match Quality

Mitochondrial DNA Matches are grouped into two tiers:

• Distant Relative - Likely to be a 5th cousin or closer
• Speculative Relative - Likely to be a 6th cousin or further

Genetic distance refers to the number of mitochondrial DNA mutations that differ between the two DNA test results. Note that since mitochondrial DNA mutates very slowly, it may be impossible to detect the difference between distant relatives and anyone closer.