Haplogroup U (mtDNA)
| Haplogroup U | |
|---|---|
| Possible time of origin | 55,000 years ago |
| Possible place of origin | Near East |
| Ancestor | R |
| Descendants | U1, U5, U6, U2'3'4'7'8'9 |
| Defining mutations | 11467, 12308, 12372 |
Haplogroup U is a (mtDNA). Its subclades are widely distributed across Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Near East.
Haplogroup U descends from a woman in the haplogroup R mtDNA branch of the phylogenetic tree, who is estimated to have lived around 55,000 years ago.
Haplogroup U is found in 15% of Indian caste and 8% of Indian tribal populations. Haplogroup U is found in approximately 11% of native Europeans and is held as the oldest maternal haplogroup found in that region. In a 2013 study, all but one of the ancient modern human sequences from Europe belonged to maternal haplogroup U, thus confirming previous findings that haplogroup U was the dominant type of Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in Europe before the spread of agriculture into Europe and the presence and the spread of the Indo-Europeans in Western Europe.
Haplogroup U has various subclades numbered U1 to U9. Haplogroup K is a subclade of U8. The old age has led to a wide distribution of the descendant subgroups across Western Eurasia, North Africa, and South Asia. Some subclades of haplogroup U have a more specific geographic range.
Haplogroup U1 is found at very low frequency throughout Europe. It is more often observed in eastern Europe, Anatolia and the Near East. It is also found at low frequencies in India. Haplogroup U1 is a very ancient haplogroup, with an estimated age of about 32,000 years. U1 is found in the Svanetia region at 4.2%. Subclade U1a is found from India to Europe, but is extremely rare among the northern and Atlantic fringes of Europe including the British Isles and Scandinavia. Several examples in Tuscany have been noted. In India, U1a has been found in the Kerala region. U1b has a similar spread but is rarer than U1a. Some examples of U1b have been found among Jewish diaspora. Subclades U1a and U1b appear in equal frequency in eastern Europe.
The U1 subclades are: U1a (with deep-subclades U1a1, U1a1a, U1a1a1, U1a1b) and U1b.
DNA analysis of excavated remains now located at ruins of the Church of St. Augustine in Goa, India revealed the unique mtDNA subclade U1b, which is absent in India, but present in Georgia and surrounding regions. Since the genetic analysis corroborates archaeological and literary evidence, it is believed that the excavated remains belong to Ketevan the Martyr, queen of Georgia.
...
Wikipedia