Tracing Past Human Male Movements in Northern/Eastern Africa and Western Eurasia: New Clues from Y-Chromosomal Haplogroups E-M78 and J-M12

Abstract

Detailed population data were obtained on the distribution of novel biallelic markers that finely dissect the human Y-chromosome haplogroup E-M78. Among 6,501 Y chromosomes sampled in 81 human populations worldwide, we found 517 E-M78 chromosomes and assigned them to 10 subhaplogroups. Eleven microsatellite loci were used to further evaluate subhaplogroup internal diversification. The geographic and quantitative analyses of haplogroup and microsatellite diversity is strongly suggestive of a northeastern African origin of E-M78, with a corridor for bidirectional migrations between northeastern and eastern Africa (at least 2 episodes between 23.9-17.3 ky and 18.0-5.9 ky ago), trans-Mediterranean migrations directly from northern Africa to Europe (mainly in the last 13.0 ky), and flow from northeastern Africa to western Asia between 20.0 and 6.8 ky ago. A single clade within E-M78 (E-V13) highlights a range expansion in the Bronze Age of southeastern Europe, which is also detected by haplogroup J-M12. Phylogeography pattern of molecular radiation and coalescence estimates for both haplogroups are similar and reveal that the genetic landscape of this region is, to a large extent, the consequence of a recent population growth in situ rather than the result of a mere flow of western Asian migrants in the early Neolithic. Our results not only provide a refinement of previous evolutionary hypotheses but also well-defined time frames for past human movements both in northern/eastern Africa and western Eurasia.

The relationship between surname frequency and Y chromosome variation in Spain

“…The controls we used in this study showed haplogroup frequencies similar to previous Y chromosome studies in Spain, [19][20][21] and most of the frequent and very frequent surnames showed haplogroup distributions similar to this control set (Table 1). For other less frequent surnames, in many cases, haplogroup composition was biased towards one or two haplogroups, indicating that sampling men with the same surname is far from random.…”

Human Y chromosome haplogroup R-V88: a paternal genetic record of early mid Holocene trans-Saharan connections and the spread of Chadic languages

“…Owing to the uncertainties associated with the estimate of the evolutionary effective microsatellite mutation rates, depending on the haplogroup demographic history, 37 we considered two different population models: (1) a constant size population and (2) a single rate of m¼0.01 for exponential population growth. After calibration for the specific microsatellites used in this study, 13 we found evolutionary effective mutation rates of 7.9Â10 À4 and 1.3Â10 À3 , respectively. Estimates for R-M343/P25, R-V88, and R-V69 were obtained from 210, 98, and 26 Y chromosomes, respectively.…”

“…However, genetic studies have been limited and mainly focused on uniparental markers and the role of the Nile basin as a corridor for human movements between northeastern and eastern Africa. [11][12][13][14] There have only been a few high-resolution analyses to date regarding the distribution of Y-specific haplogroups in the African continent. The emerging picture indicates a clear differentiation between central/western sub-Saharan and northern African populations.…”

“…Haplogroup E-DYS271, which accounts for 470% of the Y chromosomes in most of the populations south of the Sahara, is found on an average at a frequency of 2-3% in Northern Africa, whereas haplogroups J-M304, E-M81, and E-M78, which on the whole account for 50-90% of the northern African male-specific region of the Y chromosome (MSY) gene pool, have been only rarely observed in west/central sub-Saharan Africa. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] A group of chromosomes of potential interest to past trans-Saharan connections is the paragroup R1b1* (R-P25*). Cruciani et al 18 found this paragroup (at that time defined as haplogroup 117, or R-M173*(xSRY 10831 , M18, M73, M269)) to be present at high frequencies (up to 95%) in populations from northern Cameroon.…”

Mitochondrial analysis of a Byzantine population reveals the differential impact of multiple historical events in South Anatolia

“…[4][5][6][7][8] However, the major cultural changes in Anatolia occurred from the Bronze Age, when various civilization and empires succeeded one another over time and increasing interactions in the eastern Mediterranean resulted in the development of trading networks, military campaigns and human colonisations, particularly during the Mycenaean, the Greco-Hellenistic, Roman Republican and Imperial and later the Islamic periods. [9][10][11][12][13] From the early Middle Bronze Age onwards city-states and federations of the Hittites and the Luwians, two originally ethnically and linguistically related groups from Transcaucasia, started to infiltrate Central to Eastern and Western to Southern Anatolia, respectively. 14,15 Shortly afterward, from the 16th millennium BC, Minoan and Mycenaean colonization took place on the Anatolian west and southwest coast.…”