In human genetics, Haplogroup G (M201) is a Y-chromosome haplogroup. It is a branch of Haplogroup F (M89), and is theorized to have originated, according to the latest thinking, in the Near East or Southern Asia, probably in the region that is now northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The haplogroup began to spread with the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution, perhaps with the appearance of the early horse nomads of the Eurasian steppe.

Origins

The initial distribution of haplogroup G in Europe may reflect a migration of agriculture-bringing Anatolian people into the Mediterranean Basin. The haplogroup may also have been brought by invading Sarmatians, Alans and Jasz (all descendant groups of the 'Iranian' Scythians), which is a good fit with the historically attested spread of these peoples across the Central Asian steppe, from Xinjiang in the east to Iberia and Tunisia in the west, with a branch (the Sakas) entering the northwest of the Indian subcontinent at the start of the first millennium.

Distribution

Haplogroup G has an overall low frequency in most populations but is widely distributed within the Old World in Europe, Western Asia, northeastern Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia (including parts of China and the Malay Archipelago).

Caucasus

It is most frequent in the Caucasus (found at over 60% in ethnic North Ossetian males and ~30% in Georgian males). Kabardinian people, of northwestern Caucasus, are known to be 29% G. Armenians are known to be about 11% G.

Europe

In Europe, haplogroup G is found at ~5% in central and southern sections of the continent, such as mainland Greece and parts of Spain. It has relatively high concentrations in the Greek island of Crete (approx. 7%^[1] to 11%^[2]), Sardinia (approx. 21% in Tempio, 14% in Cagliari, 12% in Sorgono^[3]), and the Tyrol region of Austria (about 15%). Moving north and westwards from the Alps, concentrations drop to around 7% - 5% in parts of Germany, Bohemia, Moravia and Hungary. In the British Isles, Scandinavia, northern France, northern Germany, the Netherlands and the Baltic countries it is less common, e.g. Britain and Norway at 2%. Around 4% of Welsh men are in Haplogroup G.

Around 10% of Ashkenazi Jewish males have haplogroup G, and the Jewish diaspora to Europe from the Middle East and the Arab Moor occupation of Spain are two other probable routes into Europe for certain types of G.

Asia

In Southern Asia, haplogroup G is found at a rate of 10% to 20% among Iranian Persians, Pashtuns (ethnic Afghans), and Kalash, and at a lesser percentage among some other populations in Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, including the Tamils. Around 11% of Turkish males are in haplogroup G.

In Central Asia, G is found in small percentages in a belt extending from the Caucasus through the Central Asian steppes out to the Uyghurs of Xinjiang Province in western China.

Subgroups

• G*
• G1 (M285, M342)
  • G1*
  • G1a (P20)
  • G1b (P76)
• G2 (P287)
  • G2* -
  • G2a (P15)
    • G2a* -
    • G2a1 (P16)
      • G2a1* -
      • G2a1a (P17, P18)
    • G2a2 (M286)
  • G2b (M287)
  • G2c (M377)

Three commonly occurring subgroups of Haplogroup G have been identified so far: G1 (M285), G2a (P15) and G2c (M377). G2b (M287) exists but is rarely found in the G population.

G1

The highest reported concentration of G1 is in Iran, with next most frequent concentrations in neighboring countries.

G2

G2 represents the majority of haplogroup G Y-chromosomes in all countries, and a recently discovered subcategory (likely to be called G2a3) accounts for a high percentage of G in all sampled countries.

G2c

A clade of closely related Ashkenazi Jews represent virtually all G2c persons, with just three other G2c haplotypes having been reported so far: one Turk from Kars in northeast Turkey near Armenia, one Pashtun, and one Burusho in Pakistan. The extreme rarity of G2c in northeast Pakistan could indicate that G2c in this area originates outside the region and was brought there in the historic period, perhaps from further west (this area was part of both the Achaemenid Persian Empire, conquered by Alexander the Great, and then formed a part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom). These two reported Pakistani G2c haplotypes are quite divergent from the Ashkenazi Jewish clade, and therefore do not at all indicate a recent common origin. The Turkish G2c is somewhat closer, but not identical. It remains to be seen if testing will reveal G2c haplotypes in other populations ? this is some indication that G2c occurs at low levels in the Near East. Early reports that Ashkenazi G men were all G1 are now proven incorrect. There are also Jewish genetic clades within G2 and G1 whose members are not closely related to the G2c men. All G2c men tested so far have a rare null value for the DYS425 marker, (a missing "T" allele of the DYS371 palindromic STR), the result of a RecLOH event, a finding not yet seen among most other G haplotypes. Among Jews worldwide, haplogroup G comprises between 10?20% of the population. Though forming some recognizable clades, Jews today comprise a small percentage of the total number of G men worldwide.

Phylogeny

This is a synthesis of the data about the internal phylogeny of haplogroup G from the latest published data:

Famous members

Joseph Stalin, from a genetic test on his grandson (his son Vasily's son; Alexander Burdonsky) shows his Y-DNA haplogroup to be G2a1 http://www.runewsweek.ru/theme/?tid=96&rid=1567

References

1. ↑ Laisel Martinez, Peter A Underhill, Lev A Zhivotovsky, Tenzin Gayden, Nicholas K Moschonas, Cheryl-Emiliane T Chow, Simon Conti, Elisabetta Mamolini, L Luca Cavalli-Sforza and Rene J Herrera, "Paleolithic Y-haplogroup heritage predominates in a Cretan highland plateau," European Journal of Human Genetics (2007) 15, 485?493.
2. ↑ R. J. King, S. S. Özcan, T. Carter, E. Kalfo?lu, S. Atasoy, C. Triantaphyllidis, A. Kouvatsi, A. A. Lin, C-E. T. Chow, L. A. Zhivotovsky, M. Michalodimitrakis, P. A. Underhill (2008), "Differential Y-chromosome Anatolian Influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic," Annals of Human Genetics 72 (2), 205?214 doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2007.00414.x
3. ↑ Daniela Contu, Laura Morelli, Federico Santoni, Jamie W. Foster, Paolo Francalacci, Francesco Cucca et al. (2008), "Y-Chromosome Based Evidence for Pre-Neolithic Origin of the Genetically Homogeneous but Diverse Sardinian Population: Inference for Association Scans." PLoS ONE 3(1): e1430. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001430.http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001430

• Haplogroup G SNP project
• Some Information and Theories on Haplogroup G
• Cinnioglu, Cengiz, et al., "Excavating Y-Chromosome Haplotype Strata in Anatolia," Human Genetics,2004, vol. 114, pp. 127?48.
• DiGiacomo, F. et al. "Clinal Patterns of Human Y Chromosomal Diversity in Continental Italy and Greece 2003, vol 23, pp. 387?95. [Lists in table 1 G2 percentages in small samples in various towns]
• Firasat, Sadaf et al., "Y-chromosomal evidence for a limited Greek contribution to the Pathan population of Pakistan," European Journal of Human Genetics (2007) Vol. 15, p. 121?126. http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v15/n1/full/5201726a.html
• Nasidze, Ivan et al., "Testing Hypotheses of Language Replacement in the Caucasus: Evidence from the Y Chromosome," Human Genetics, 2003, vol. 112, pp. 255?61.
• Nasidze, Ivan et al., "Concomitant Replacement of Language and mtDNA in South Caspian Populations of Iran," Current Biology, 2006, vol. 16, pp. 668?73.
• Nasidze, Ivan et al., "Genetic Evidence concerning the Origins of South and North Ossetians," Annals of Human Genetics, 2004, vol. 68, pp. 588?99.
• Nasidze, Ivan et al., "Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromsome Variation in the Caucasus," Annals of Human Genetics, 2004, vol. 68, pp 204?21.
• Nasidze, Ivan et al., "MtDNA and Y-Chromosome Variation in Kurdish Groups," Annals of Human Genetics, 2005, vol. 69, pp. 401?12.
• Qamar, Raheel, "Y Chromosomal DNA Variation in Pakistan," American Journal of Human Genetics, 2002, vol. 70(5), pp. 1107?24.
• Regueiro, M., et al., "Iran: Tricontinental Nexus for Y-Chromosome Driven Migration," Human Heredity,2006, vol. 61, pp. 132?43.
• Sahoo, Sanghamitra, "A Prehistory of Indian Y Chromosomes: Evaluating Demic Diffusion Scenarios," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 2006, vol. 103(4), pp. 843?48.
• Sengupta, Sanghamitra, "Polarity and Temporality of High-Resolution Y-Chromosome Distributions in India Identify Both Indigenous and Exogenous Expansions and Reveal Minor Genetic Influence of Central Asian Pastoralists," American Journal of Human Genetics, 2006, vol. 78(2), pp. 202?21.
• Zei, Gianna, et al., "From Surnames to the History of Y Chromosomes: the Sardinian Population as a Paradigm," European Journal of Human Genetics, 2003, vol. 11, pp. 802-07.

See also

• Haplogroup G2c (Y-DNA)
• genetic genealogy
• Y-DNA haplogroups by ethnic groups

External links

• Y-Search Users with Haplogroup G
• The G SNP Project - Latest G Phylogenetic Tree (this link is dead)
• (this link shows nothing, is incorrect?)
• Spread of Haplogroup G, from National Geographic
• The 2006 ISOGG tree
• Rootsweb group for discussion of haplogroup G
• G-YDNA FamilyTreeDNA's G discussion group (this is a private Yahoo discussion group and therefore cannot be viewed from here)
• Haplogroup G, region by region and country by country.

ca:Haplogrup G del cromosoma Y humà fr:Haplogroupe G (Y-ADN) it:Aplogruppo G (Y-DNA)