Phylogeographic analysis of haplogroup E3b (E-M215) y chromosomes reveals multiple migratory events within and out of Africa.
We explored the phylogeography of human Y-chromosomal haplogroup E3b by analyzing 3401 individuals from five continents. Our data refine the phylogeny of the entire haplogroup, which appears as a collection of lineages with very different evolutionary histories, and reveal signatures of several distinct processes of migrations and/or recurrent gene flow that occurred in Africa and western Eurasia over the past 25000 years. In Europe, the overall frequency pattern of haplogroup E-M78 does not support the hypothesis of a uniform spread of people from a single parental Near Eastern population. The distribution of E-M81 chromosomes in Africa closely matches the present area of distribution of Berber-speaking populations on the continent, suggesting a close haplogroup-ethnic group parallelism. E-M34 chromosomes were more likely introduced in Ethiopia from the Near East. In conclusion, the present study shows that earlier work based on fewer Y-chromosome markers led to rather simple historical interpretations and highlights the fact that many population-genetic analyses are not robust to a poorly resolved phylogeny.
Cruciani
Fulvio
F
Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Universita "La Sapienza," 00185 Rome, Italy.
La Fratta
Roberta
R
Santolamazza
Piero
P
Sellitto
Daniele
D
Pascone
Roberto
R
Moral
Pedro
P
Watson
Elizabeth
E
Guida
Valentina
V
Colomb
Eliane Beraud
EB
Zaharova
Boriana
B
Lavinha
Joao
J
Vona
Giuseppe
G
Aman
Rashid
R
Cali
Francesco
F
Akar
Nejat
N
Richards
Martin
M
Torroni
Antonio
A
Novelletto
Andrea
A
Scozzari
Rosaria
R
D000349:Africa / Q000208:ethnology; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008877:Middle East / Q000208:ethnology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012800:Siberia / Q000208:ethnology; D013997:Time Factors