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Null439 is a term used when FTDNA is unable to find a value for marker DYS439. In these cases, FTDNA indicates a null439 with a blue 12 on FTDNA public pages and Group Administrator Pages or a blue asterisk beside 439 on myFTDNA Y-DNA pages with a note that "your sample produced no result for DYS 439" (see below).
Note: Genographic project members with a null439 will not show a blue 12 or blue asterisk even if they join an FTDNA project.
The apparent missing value is due to a mutation called a SNP near DYS439 which interferes with the test process and prevents a value from being detected. See an FTDNA null439 presentation that shows details about the SNP.
SNPs are passed down from father to son, and all males with null439 SNP descend from a common ancestor who lived within the last 5000 years. Most null439 males with known origins have roots in England or Germany (see Analysis).
The null439 SNP is also called "S26". S26 defines the R1b1c9a sub-clade and is carried by about a half of one percent of R1b males. S26 is "downstream" of the SNP S21, which is carried by about 25% of R1b males.
If the FTDNA lab fails to detect a value at DYS439, they will test the sample two more times before declaring it to have a null value. This means very few results are mis-identified as a null439 when they are not.
Only FTDNA can "detect" null439s, though we list some results from other labs who have a very close match with known null439 results, even though their null439 status is not confirmed with a blue 12.
If your Family Tree DNA report shows you have an asterisk beside DYS439, then we welcome you to join the null439 project. Click the 
icon at the left of your MyFTDNA page and select the Null439 project
Click on Results to see a listing of known null439 surnames and results, and analysis for a discussion of possible null439 connections and origins. Please contact Leo Little at lwlittle@yahoo.com for further information.