Haplogroup J (mtDNA)

Haplogroup J
Possible time of origin	45,000 years before present
Possible place of origin	Caucasus, Eurasia
Ancestor	JT
Descendants	J1, J2
Defining mutations	295 489 10398 12612 13708 16069

Haplogroup J is a (mtDNA) haplogroup. The clade derives from the haplogroup JT, which also gave rise to Haplogroup T. In his popular book The Seven Daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes named the originator of this mtDNA haplogroup Jasmine. Within the field of medical genetics, certain polymorphisms specific to haplogroup J have been associated with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy.

Around 45,000 years before present, a mutation took place in the DNA of a woman who lived in the Near East or Caucasus. Further mutations occurred in the J line, which can be identified as J1a1 (27,000 yrs ago), J2a (19,000 yrs ago), J2b2 (16,000 years ago), J2b3 (5,800 yrs ago), etc. Haplogroup J (along with ‘T’) MtDNA J & T colonised Europe from the Near East in the late Paleolithic and Mesolithic.

*Typographical error from original source material as per time table describing the spread of populations given in the same study.

However, any statements concerning the geographic origin of this or any other haplogroup are highly speculative and considered by most population geneticists to be 'story telling' and outside the domain of science . Furthermore, inferring close associations between a haplogroup and a specific archaeological culture can be equally problematic.

Basal haplogroup J* is found among the Socotri (9.2%).

Haplogroup J occurs in approximately 12% of native European populations.

The average frequency of haplogroup J as a whole is today highest in the Near East (12%), followed by Europe (11%), the Caucasus (8%) and Northeast Africa (6%). Of the two main sub-groups, J1 takes up four-fifths of the total and is spread widely on the continent while J2 is more localised around the Mediterranean, Greece, Italy/Sardinia and Spain.

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