Using the short tandem repeat, values from members' test results we hope to distinguish individual lineages that have developed and their current geographic distributions. Slower markers, those with a lower mutation rate, are good for finding populations in the more distant past. Faster markers, those with a higher mutation rate, are better at defining recent events. Some STR markers are so slow that it is possible to predict SNP results based on them. For I1, DYS455 is such a marker. Its value of 8 is seldom seen in other European Haplogroups. It is the combination of modal values from a set of STR markers that define a population though rather than any one marker's value.

If a significant correlation is found then it can be evaluated for a shift in modal values across the sample set. Ken Nordvedt has defined a number of 'clusters' or groups within I1 based on his statistical analysis of the SMGF database. Project members' results will be grouped according to an interpretation of his work. The work and methods of other I1 researchers will also be used to bridge the gap between the marker sets used by FTDNA and the SMGF. Because STR Clusters are based on the faster STR rather than the slower SNP matches to modal values across the haplotype.

Paths to further discovery Advanced marker testing DYS385a–b Kittler It may be possible to divided I1 with this two copy marker. Unlike other tests of multi–copy markers the Kittler test is able to determine the order of the repeat values. The standard DYS385a–b test and other multi–copy tests are reported in least to greatest order. This means that a group of results that have 13–14 may be two different profiles. One group may be 13–14 while the other is 14–13. Ken says that this Note though that if your results for the basic DYS385 test are 14–14 then the Kittler test will not provide any additional information.