Suraksha Agrawal1,*, Faisal Khan1, Atul Pandey1, Manorama Tripathi1 and Rene J. Herrera2
YAP, an Alu insertion polymorphism found on human Y-chromosome is present in two lineages worldwide, corresponding to M145/M203/SRY4064 (haplogroup E) and M145/M203/M174 (haplogroup D) polymorphisms respectively. First lineage belonging to haplogroup D is specific to Japan and other Southeast Asian populations, while haplogroup E is confined to Sub-Saharan African, Middle Eastern and Southern European populations. In the present study, 1021 Y-chromosomes belonging to nine different populations of North India were analysed for YAP insertion and four other single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to delineate the two lineages. Out of nine populations only one, i.e. Shiya Muslims revealed presence of YAP element at a frequency of 11%. Further analysis based on four additional SNPs revealed that all the YAP+ve samples could be categorized under African/Middle East-specific haplogroup E lineage. Interestingly, Sunni Muslims who historically have the same origin, i.e. from the Middle east showed a complete lack of YAP+ve lineage similar to other castes. We hypothesize that unlike Sunnis, Shiya Muslims due to their lesser number and less admixture with other caste groups of India, still carry the ancestral YAP+ve lineage, which in all probabilities is one of the founder haplogroups. All Middle Eastern populations show the presence of this lineage in almost similar frequency. Our study shows the presence of YAP+ve lineage in North Indian populations, reflecting an African/Middle Eastern migration into North India
This week’s reading is into Y chromosome DE, so I’ m chasing down papers that can help me figure out the earliest out of Africa Y chromosome movements. It’s not looking like DE is East African in origin, although I think North Africa is possible given the distribtion of DE, E and D. I’m starting to suspect if the OOA populaiton movement was one swift sudden expansion. Did it stall for a while In NE Africa? I’m no longer buying the Gate of Tears as an OOA exit. Looking at other later population movements the Horn doesn’t seem to play any part in the movements from Eurasia and Africa until about 10k ago.
Chad Basin, lying within the bidirectional corridor of African Sahel, is one of the most populated places in Sub-Saharan Africa today. The origin of its settlement appears connected with Holocene climatic ameliorations (aquatic resources) that started ~10,000 years before present (YBP). Although both Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo language families are encountered here, the most diversified group is the Chadic branch belonging to the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. In this article, we investigate the proposed ancient migration of Chadic pastoralists from Eastern Africa based on linguistic data and test for genetic traces of this migration in extant Chadic speaking populations.
Results
We performed whole mitochondrial genome sequencing of 16 L3f haplotypes, focused on clade L3f3 that occurs almost exclusively in Chadic speaking people living in the Chad Basin. These data supported the reconstruction of a L3f phylogenetic tree and calculation of times to the most recent common ancestor for all internal clades. A date ~8,000 YBP was estimated for the L3f3 sub-haplogroup, which is in good agreement with the supposed migration of Chadic speaking pastoralists and their linguistic differentiation from other Afro-Asiatic groups of East Africa. As a whole, the Afro-Asiatic language family presents low population structure, as 92.4% of mtDNA variation is found within populations and only 3.4% of variation can be attributed to diversity among language branches. The Chadic speaking populations form a relatively homogenous cluster, exhibiting lower diversification than the other Afro-Asiatic branches (Berber, Semitic and Cushitic).
Conclusions
The results of our study support an East African origin of mitochondrial L3f3 clade that is present almost exclusively within Chadic speaking people living in Chad Basin. Whole genome sequence-based dates show that the ancestral haplogroup L3f must have emerged soon after the Out-of-Africa migration (around 57,100 ± 9,400 YBP), but the “Chadic” L3f3 clade has much less internal variation, suggesting an expansion during the Holocene period about 8,000 ± 2,500 YBP. This time period in the Chad Basin is known to have been particularly favourable for the expansion of pastoralists coming from northeastern Africa, as suggested by archaeological, linguistic and climatic data.
Thank you for posting this Igbo. I do feel obliged to point out an impossibility in the text..
According to linguistic analyses of Afro-Asiatic branches, the common ancestors of extant Chadic and Cushitic peoples inhabited East or Northeast Africa ~7,000-8,000 years before present
Because for various reasons to do with goats and sheep there’s no way Cushitic is older than 5,500 BP. The evidence does speak to Chadic being a younger arrival in the area. Is the R1b associated with it from the North?
Another interesting observation (I’ve being trying to get hold of come Chadic Mt DNA) is the amount of L3 in the area. I suspect these are the surviving remnants of the North African L3 branches that got wiped out by the Eurasian back migrations across the Maghreb about 30-35k ago. I shall have another read of this later when my kids aren’t bugging me so much. Sigh.
Link
Scientists have recreated an image of the face of the sister of Cleopatra, the last Egyptian pharaoh. A team of forensic art experts at Dundee University made the 3D computer image of Arsinoe, who was hated by Cleopatra, who lived 2,000 years ago.
Researchers undertook the work for a new documentary, Cleopatra – Portrait of a Killer, on BBC ONE. Scientists based the computer model on what are believed to be remains of Arsinoe found in Ephesus, Turkey.
‘Historical background’
The Unit for Forensic and Medical Art at Dundee used facial reconstruction and forensic techniques to generate images and models from human remains. In the case of Arsinoe, researchers took dozens of pictures of the skull found in Turkey. From these they generated a 3D computer model of the head, to which skin, hair and facial features were added.
Dr Caroline Wilkinson, who leads the unit, said: “The skull that was found is not complete but from examining the bone structure and shape we are able to add the lower part of the jaw and then render the skull as a full 3D model.”
The team also found that the skull and skeleton of Arsinoe may indicate that she had both European and ancient Egyptian characteristics.
Digital artist Janice Aitken, who added skin, hair and eye colour to the image said: “Although it is not possible to tell the exact skin, eye and hair colour from the skull, the historical background information and shape of the skull suggested a mixed ancestry.”
The forensic art team at the university was also responsible for reconstructing the face of German composer Bach last year.
If they really wanted to be sure she was Egyptian they could use isotope testing on the bones, but the Egyptian features of the skull do seem to support that she’s Arsinoe. Apparently Cleopatra had her murdered in her teens. She also did away with her two younger brothers. Yikes.
Due to its pivotal geographic position, present day Iran likely served as a gateway of reciprocal human movements. However, the extent to which the deserts within the Iranian plateau and the mountain ranges surrounding Persia inhibited gene flow via this corridor remains uncertain. In order to assess the magnitude of this region’s role as a nexus for Africa, Asia and Europe in human migrations, high-resolution Y-chromosome analyses were performed on 150 Iranian males. Haplogroup data were subsequently compared to regional populations characterized at similar phylogenetic levels. The Iranians display considerable haplogroup diversity consistent with patterns observed in populations of the Middle East overall, reinforcing the notion of Persia as a venue for human disseminations. Admixture analyses of geographically targeted, regional populations along the latitudinal corridor spanning from Anatolia to the Indus Valley demonstrated contributions to Persia from both the east and west. However, significant differences were uncovered upon stratification of the gene donors, including higher proportions from central east and southeast Turkey as compared to Pakistan. In addition to the modulating effects of geographic obstacles, culturally mediated amalgamations consistent with the diverse spectrum of a variety of historical empires may account for the distribution of haplogroups and lineages observed. Our study of high-resolution Y-chromosome genotyping allowed for an in-depth analysis unattained in previous studies of the area, revealing important migratory and demographic events that shaped the contemporary genetic landscape.
I’ve livened it up with a bit of red to show the Kebaran/Natufian PN2 variants, which are conspicuously absent from North Iran. Still no source for p25…I need data from Arabia.
The Sahel that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ethiopian highland is a historical reservoir of Africa’s cultures and grandest populations and a known arena of ancient and recent migrations. We are interested in the issue whether such migrations were also carriers of genetic traits and whether this introgression could be associated with population genetic markers. Based on analysis of Y-chromosome haplogroups, we present evidence that the sickle gene, one of the major protective polymorphisms known in malaria, has in fact found its way only recently to the gene pool of the populations in eastern Sahel. We discuss the possible dynamics of the process and give estimates of the age of the introduction of the S allele into eastern Sahel.
The association of the P25 with the S gene in Hausa, which barely holds (P=0.07) in spite of the relatively large effective population size of the Hausa (Hassan et al, unpublished), might indicate that the S mutation may have been affiliated with a male founder belonging to Y haplogroup R1b-P25. The observed frequency among S-gene carriers in populations other than Hausa makes a strong case for gene flow from the Hausa to local groups in Sudan.
Busy chasing down the p25 Y chromosome today. This study does suggest to me that the R1b may have got into Cameroon in very low amounts originally but SC trait might have got into a small group carrying mainly R1b1 and this turbo boosted a founder effect on it. The Hausa appeaer to be vectors of the SC trait and p25 into East Africa, with a fairly recent Eastward movement (about 300 years old).
Lebanon is an eastern Mediterranean country inhabited by approximately four million people with a wide variety of ethnicities and religions, including Muslim, Christian, and Druze. In the present study, 926 Lebanese men were typed with Y-chromosomal SNP and STR markers, and unusually, male genetic variation within Lebanon was found to be more strongly structured by religious affiliation than by geography. We therefore tested the hypothesis that migrations within historical times could have contributed to this situation. Y-haplogroup J(xJ2) was more frequent in the putative Muslim source region (the Arabian Peninsula) than in Lebanon, and it was also more frequent in Lebanese Muslims than in Lebanese non-Muslims. Conversely, haplogroup R1b was more frequent in the putative Christian source region (western Europe) than in Lebanon and was also more frequent in Lebanese Christians than in Lebanese non-Christians. The most common R1b STR-haplotype in Lebanese Christians was otherwise highly specific for western Europe and was unlikely to have reached its current frequency in Lebanese Christians without admixture. We therefore suggest that the Islamic expansion from the Arabian Peninsula beginning in the seventh century CE introduced lineages typical of this area into those who subsequently became Lebanese Muslims, whereas the Crusader activity in the 11th–13th centuries CE introduced western European lineages into Lebanese Christians.
And still no source for the p25 that went into into east Africa.
Much beloved by the Afrocentrist idiots who like to pretend Keita believes and has proved Egyptians were black Africans.. I quote..
“it can be imagined that the modern diversity to be found in Egypt…. in terms of craniofacial features… skin colour… what have you, would likely have been very similar to that found in the past.”
He then goes on to point out that the heterogenous ‘mixed ancestry’ was there before the predynastic era (also true) and that the state formation was a local process (also true, it has a Badarian root). He then goes on to have a moan at Afrocentrists and Eurocentrists ( the real nuts who think Egyptians were all Nordics).
A high-resolution, Y-chromosome analysis using 46 binary markers has been carried out in two Jordan populations, one from the metropolitan area of Amman and the other from the Dead Sea, an area geographically isolated. Comparisons with neighboring populations showed that whereas the sample from Amman did not significantly differ from their Levantine neighbors, the Dead Sea sample clearly behaved as a genetic outlier in the region. Its high R1*-M173 frequency (40%) has until now only been found in northern Cameroonian samples. This contrasts with the comparatively low presence of J representatives (9%), which is the modal clade in Middle Eastern populations, including Amman. The Dead Sea sample also showed a high presence of E3b3a-M34 lineages (31%), which is only comparable to that found in Ethiopians. Although ancient and recent ties with sub-Saharan and eastern Africans cannot be discarded, it seems that isolation, strong drift, and/or founder effects are responsible for the anomalous Y-chromosome pool of this population. These results demonstrate that, at a fine scale, the smooth, continental clines detected for several Y-chromosome markers are often disrupted by genetically divergent populations.
Finally, I have located the full text for this paper.
I’d guess the m34 is a legacy from the Kebaran’s m123 that kept m78 company in it’s expansion. Cruciani had it as Asian in origin and present in East Africa from later back migrations. You also see Asian R1-M173, also found in Cameroon.
For my own reference from here. The Cameroon R1b marked in green.
Also, digging out an Anatolian paper, I’m sure I saw M335 present there, location three being Armenia, I think.Very odd. The Sudanese Copts have P25, as do the Hausa. I guess the simplest explanation would be that some Ouldeme man ended up in Turkey at some point.
While you get a little p25 in Turkey, there’s a dearth of it in the Jordan area- you only seem to get derived m269 there, which is what you’d expect if it took an overland route from Turkey to get to Africa. I’m suspecting the p25 (R1b1) went across the Red Sea at a fairly southerly point to get into the Northern part of the Sudan. I’m having a dig for Y chromosome information from that part of the Arabian/Yemeni coast but I’m not having much luck. Anyone who knows where I can dig out that info let me know. I’m looking for a reasonable source for the R1b1 in East Africa, in Asia. So far I’m really only finding m269 in the fertile crescent and very low p25 in Turkey, so either the plain p25 that was ancestral to East Africa has been wiped out or it’s hiding on the East Red sea coast in a study I haven’t seen.
The relation between intelligence and birth order was shown in a recent publication [Bjerkedal, T., Kristensen, P., Skjeret, G. A. & Brevik, J. I. (2007). Intelligence test scores and birth order among young Norwegian men (conscripts) analyzed within and between families. Intelligence, 35, 503–514] to be negative. Subjects in this and in an influential earlier study [Belmont, L. & Marolla F. A. (1973). Birth order, family size, and intelligence. Science, 182, 1096–1101] were all men. We tested if the association of IQ and birth order is the same in men and women. Longitudinal IQ data were available from 626 Dutch twin pairs at ages 5, 12 and 18 years. The number of older siblings in these twin families was between zero and five, and was recoded into 3 categories (0, 1 and 2, or more). IQ data were analyzed with a model in which age cohort, number of older sibs, sex and all interactions were included as fixed effects. The dependency between twins was modeled as a function of additive genetic effects (A) and common environment (C) shared by children from the same family. Effects of A, C and unique environment (E) were allowed to differ as a function of age. The correlation across time between IQ scores was modeled a function of genetic and environmental factors. The test for the effect of N of older sibs was significant [F(2,827)=6.51 (p=0.0016)], while the interaction of N of older sibs with sex was not significant [F(2,933)=1.93, p=0.15]. Heritability for IQ was estimated at 37% at age 5 (C explained 34% of the variance). At ages 12 and 18 heritability for IQ was 81% and 82%, respectively. At these ages C did not contribute to IQ variation. We conclude that the dependency of IQ scores on birth order does not differ for boys and girls. We discuss these results in the context of the general findings of the absence of common environmental influences on IQ scores in the genetic analyses of adolescent and adult twin data.
On the quite I’m quite interested in IQ testing and studies. This has some information on the Hereditability on IQ with age; 37% at age 5, 82% at age 18. And as I recall it gets higher the older you get, in the 90% once you are a full adult living your own life. Which makes a lot of the IQ studies that have been carried out on children pretty much pointless, as their IQ’s are so plastic at that age.
