Haplogroup J (Y DNA)

Origins

Haplogroup J-M304 is believed to have arisen roughly 48,000 years ago in Western Asia. It is most closely related to Haplogroup I-M170, as both lineages are haplogroup IJ subclades. Haplogroup IJ and haplogroup K derive from Haplogroup IJK, and only at this level of classification does haplogroup IJK join with Haplogroup G-M201 and Haplogroup H as immediate descendants of Haplogroup F-M89. J-M304 is defined by the M304 genetic marker, or the equivalent 12f2.1 marker. According to a genetic study in China by Shou et al., J*-M304 is found among the Sibe people, Kazakhs, Dongxiangs and Uzbeks in Northwest China. The main current subgroups J-M267 and J-M172, which now comprise between them almost all of the population of the haplogroup, are both believed to have arisen very early, at least 10,000 years ago. Nonetheless, Y-chromosomes F-M89* and IJ-M429* were reported to have been observed in the Iranian plateau (Grugni et al. 2012).

On the other hand, it would seem to be that different episodes of populace movement had impacted southeast Europe, as well as the role of the Balkans as a long-standing corridor to Europe from the Near East is shown by the phylogenetic unification of Hgs I and J by the basal M429 mutation. This proof of common ancestry suggests that ancestral Hgs IJ-M429* probably would have entered Europe through the Balkan track sometime before the LGM. They then subsequently split into Hg J and Hg I in Middle East and Europe in a typical disjunctive phylogeographic pattern. Such a geographic hall is prone to have encountered extra consequent gene streams, including the horticultural settlers. Moreover, the unification of haplogroups IJK creates evolutionary distance from F–H delegates, as well as supporting the inference that both IJ-M429 and KT-M9 arose closer to the Middle East than central or eastern Asia.

Distribution

Haplogroup J-M304 is found in its greatest concentration in the Arabian peninsula. Outside of this region, haplogroup J-M304 has a significant presence in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. It also has a moderate occurrence in Southern Europe, especially in central and southern Italy, Malta, Greece and Albania. The J-M410 subclade is mostly distributed in Anatolia, Greece and southern Italy. Additionally, J-M304 is observed in Central Asia and South Asia, particularly in the form of its subclade J-M172. J-12f2 and J-P19 are also found among the Herero (8%).

Basal J*(xJ1,J2) is found at its highest frequencies among the Socotri (71.4%).

J-M304*

Paragroup J-M304* includes all of J-M304 except for J-M267, J-M172 and their subclades. J-M304* is rarely found outside of the island of Socotra, off the coast of Yemen, where it is quite frequent at 71.4%. Haplogroup J-M304* also has been found with lower frequency in Oman (Giacomo 2004), Ashkenazi Jews, Saudi Arabia (Abu-Amero 2009), Greece (Giacomo 2004), the Czech Republic (Giacomo 2004 and Luca 2007), Uygurs and several Turkic peoples. (Cinnioglu 2004 and Varzari 2006).

The following gives a summary of most of the studies which specifically tested for J-M267 and J-M172, showing its distribution in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

J-M267

Haplogroup J-M267 defined by the M267 SNP is in modern times most frequent in the Arabian Peninsula: Yemen (up to 76%), Saudi (up to 64%) (Alshamali 2009), Qatar (58%), and Dagestan (up to 56%). J-M267 is generally frequent among Arab Bedouins (62%), Ashkenazi Jews (20%) (Semino 2004), Algeria (up to 35%) (Semino 2004), Iraq (up to 33%) (Semino 2004), Tunisia (up to 31%), Syria (up to 30%), Egypt (up to 20%) (Luis 2004), and the Sinai Peninsula. To some extent, the frequency of Haplogroup J-M267 collapses at the borders of Arabic/Semitic-speaking territories with mainly non-Arabic/Semitic speaking territories, such as Turkey (9%), Iran (5%), Sunni Iraqi Biradari of North India (38%) and Northern Indian Shia (11%) (Eaaswarkhanth 2009). However, it should be noted that some figures above tend to be the larger ones obtained in some studies, while the smaller figures obtained in other studies are omitted. It is also highly frequent among Jews, especially the Kohanim line (46%) (Hammer 2009).

ISOGG states that J-M267 originated in the Middle East. It is found in parts of the Near East, Anatolia and North Africa, with a much sparser distribution in the southern Mediterranean flank of Europe, and in Ethiopia.

But not all studies agree on the point of origin. The Levant has been proposed but a 2010 study concluded that the haplogroup had a more northern origin, possibly Anatolia.

The origin of the J-P58 subclade is likely in the more northerly populations and then spreads southward into the Arabian Peninsula. The high Y-STR variance of J-P58 in ethnic groups in Turkey, as well as northern regions in Syria and Iraq, supports the inference of an origin of J-P58 in nearby eastern Anatolia. Moreover, the network analysis of J-P58 haplotypes shows that some of the populations with low diversity, such as Bedouins from Israel, Qatar, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, are tightly clustered near high-frequency haplotypes suggesting founder effects with star burst expansion into the Arabian Desert (Chiaroni 2010).

J-M172

Haplogroup J-M172 is found in the highest concentrations in the Caucasus and the Fertile Crescent/Iraq and is found throughout the Mediterranean (including the Italian, Balkan, Anatolian and Iberian peninsulas and North Africa) (Giacomo 2003).

The highest ever reported concentration of J-M172 was 72% in Northeastern Georgia (Nasidze 2004). Other high reports include Ingush 32% (Nasidze 2004), Cypriots 30-37% (Capelli 2005), Lebanese 30% (Wells et al. 2001), Assyrian, Mandean and Arab Iraqis 29.7% (Sanchez et al. 2005), Syrians and Syriacs 22.5%, Kurds 24%-28%, Iranians 23% (Aburto 2006), Ashkenazi Jews 24%, Palestinian Arabs 16.8%-25%, Sephardic Jews 29%[1] and North Indian Shia Muslim 18%, Chechens 26%, Balkars 24%, Yaghnobis 32%, Armenians 21-24%, and Azerbaijanis 24%-48%.

Some J-M172 haplotypes (as well as some J-M267 ones) belong to the "Cohen Modal Haplotype".

In South Asia, J2-M172 was found to be significantly higher among Dravidian castes at 19% than among Indo-European castes at 11%. J2-M172 and J-M410 is found 21% among Dravidian middle castes, followed by upper castes, 18.6%, and lower castes 14%. (Sengupta 2006) Subclades of M172 such as M67 and M92 were not found in either Indian or Pakistani samples which also might hint at a partial common origin.(Sengupta 2006)

Phylogenetics

In Y-chromosome phylogenetics, subclades are the branches of haplogroups. These subclades are also defined by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or unique event polymorphisms (UEPs).

Phylogenetic history

Prior to 2002, there were in academic literature at least seven naming systems for the Y-Chromosome Phylogenetic tree. This led to considerable confusion. In 2002, the major research groups came together and formed the Y-Chromosome Consortium (YCC). They published a joint paper that created a single new tree that all agreed to use. Later, a group of citizen scientists with an interest in population genetics and genetic genealogy formed a working group to create an amateur tree aiming at being above all timely. The table below brings together all of these works at the point of the landmark 2002 YCC Tree. This allows a researcher reviewing older published literature to quickly move between nomenclatures.

Research publications

The following research teams per their publications were represented in the creation of the YCC tree.

Phylogenetic trees

There are several confirmed and proposed phylogenetic trees available for haplogroup J-M304. The scientifically accepted one is the Y-Chromosome Consortium (YCC) one published in Karafet 2008 and subsequently updated. A draft tree that shows emerging science is provided by Thomas Krahn at the Genomic Research Center in Houston, Texas. The International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) also provides an amateur tree.

The Genomic Research Center draft tree

This is Thomas Krahn at the Genomic Research Center's Draft tree Proposed Tree for haplogroup J-P209 (Krahn & FTDNA 2013). For brevity, only the first three levels of subclades are shown.

The Y-Chromosome Consortium tree

This is the official scientific tree produced by the Y-Chromosome Consortium (YCC). The last major update was in 2008 (Karafet 2008). Subsequent updates have been quarterly and biannual. The current version is a revision of the 2010 update.