Saami and Berbers--an unexpected mitochondrial DNA link.
The sequencing of entire human mitochondrial DNAs belonging to haplogroup U reveals that this clade arose shortly after the "out of Africa" exit and rapidly radiated into numerous regionally distinct subclades. Intriguingly, the Saami of Scandinavia and the Berbers of North Africa were found to share an extremely young branch, aged merely approximately 9,000 years. This unexpected finding not only confirms that the Franco-Cantabrian refuge area of southwestern Europe was the source of late-glacial expansions of hunter-gatherers that repopulated northern Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum but also reveals a direct maternal link between those European hunter-gatherer populations and the Berbers.
Achilli
Alessandro
A
Dipartimento di Genetica e Microbiologia, Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
Rengo
Chiara
C
Battaglia
Vincenza
V
Pala
Maria
M
Olivieri
Anna
A
Fornarino
Simona
S
Magri
Chiara
C
Scozzari
Rosaria
R
Babudri
Nora
N
Santachiara-Benerecetti
A Silvana
AS
Bandelt
Hans-Jürgen
HJ
Semino
Ornella
O
Torroni
Antonio
A
D000352:Africa, Northern / Q000208:ethnology; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005060:Europe; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries / Q000208:ethnology; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial