title: Phylogeographic analysis of haplogroup E3b (E-M215) y chromosomes reveals multiple migratory events within and out of Africa.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Universita "La Sapienza," 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Fulvio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cruciani
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: La Fratta
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santolamazza
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sellitto
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pascone
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moral
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Guida
authors.forename: Eliane Beraud
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Colomb
authors.forename: Boriana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zaharova
authors.forename: Joao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lavinha
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vona
authors.forename: Rashid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aman
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cali
authors.forename: Nejat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akar
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torroni
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Novelletto
authors.forename: Rosaria
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scozzari
mesh_terms: 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