Haplotype Groups
NOTE: When reading genealogies presented, it is important to remember that this is a work in progress. The genealogies utilized were submitted by the participants, and no attempt has been made to consolidate them into unified trees or verify this information.  Please contact the submitters for additional data, comments or corrections.

 

As of May 5th, 2008, Family Tree DNA has adjusted its haplogroup names to match the newer nomenclature recommended by this research. The Genographic Project will make a similar transition in late 2008.

Haplotype Groups

For a participant to access his Personal Page, he may log into FamilyTreeDNA.com with his kit number and password. The results posted there comparing each individual participant’s STR test with the extensive world-wide database created by Dr. Hammer, of Family Tree DNA, is very interesting. I urge each participant to visit his own personal page and read the material found there.

 

Notice in the above paragraph that Family Tree DNA informs us that this STR testing only indicates a suggested haplogroup. To actually confirm a haplogroup Family Tree DNA can perform a test for haplogroup determination utilizing specific SNP Markers. The Y-DNA SNP test will determine if the estimated haplogroup is your haplogroup. As an example, if your estimated haplogroup is R1b, a test could be ordered to confirm if you are indeed an R1b or not, but in case you are not, you would have to perform additional test(s) to find your Haplogroup. That is why Family Tree DNA only recommends the test to those who really want (we mean... very badly) want to know his haplogroup.

 

Each of these major haplogroups, or clades, can have subgroups, or subclades. Subgroups have a numeric name which follows the haplogroup name. For example, haplogroup E has two subgroups called E1 and E2. There is also a subgroup E* which belongs to haplogroup E but not either of the defined subgroups. Subclades can also have subgroups, which are noted with lower-case characters, such as E1a or E1b, and further defined, i.e. E1b1b1.

 

YDNA Haplogroup Definitions  

  • A
    Haplogroup A is localized to East Africa and Southern Africa and represents the oldest and most diverse of the human Y-chromosome haplogroups. It is believed to be the haplogroup corresponding to Y-chromosomal Adam.  The highest presence of haplogroup A in East Africa was discovered in a sample of the Sudanese population.

  • B
    Haplogroup B is one of the oldest Y-chromosome lineages in humans. Haplogroup B is found exclusively in Africa. This lineage was the first to disperse around Africa. There is current archaeological evidence supporting a major population expansion in Africa approximately 90-130 thousand years ago. It has been proposed that this event may have spread Haplogroup B throughout Africa. Haplogroup B appears at low frequency all around Africa, but is at its highest frequency in Pygmy populations.

  • C
    Haplogroup C is found throughout mainland Asia, the south Pacific, and at low frequency in Native American populations. Haplogroup C originated in southern Asia and spread in all directions. This lineage colonized New Guinea, Australia, and north Asia, and currently is found with its highest diversity in populations of India.
    • C3
      Haplogroup C3 is believed to have originated in southeast or central Asia. This lineage then spread into northern Asia, and then into the Americas.
  • D2
    Haplogroup D2 most likely derived from the D lineage in Japan. It is completely restricted to Japan, and is a very diverse lineage within the aboriginal Japanese and in the Japanese population around Okinawa.

  • E3a
    Haplogroup E3a is an Africa lineage. It is currently hypothesized that this haplogroup dispersed south from northern Africa within the last 3,000 years, by the Bantu agricultural expansion. E3a is also the most common lineage among African Americans

  • E3b
    This haplogroup is believed to have evolved in the Middle East. It expanded into the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene Neolithic expansion. It is currently distributed around the Mediterranean, southern Europe, and in north and east Africa.

  • E1 and E2
    E1a and E2 are found almost exclusively in Africa, and only E1b1b is observed in significant frequencies in Europe and western Asia in addition to Africa. Most Sub-Saharan Africans belong to subclades of E other than E1b1b, while most non-Africans who belong to haplogroup E belong to its E1b1b subclade.

    • E1b1b
      This is at once the most common Y haplogroup among Ethiopians, Somalis, Eritreans and North African Berbers and Arabs, is the third most common haplogroup in Europe. It is also common in the Near East, from where it spread into the Balkans and the rest of Europe.  Eb1b1 clusters are seen today in Western Europe, Southeast Europe, the Near East, Northeast Africa and Northwest Africa.

  • G
    Many different locations and dates have been proposed for this group.  The National Geographic Society places its origins in the Middle East 10-20,000 years ago and the Neolithic period.  From there it spread to central Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

    • G2
      This lineage may have originated in India or Pakistan, and has dispersed into central Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The G2 branch of this lineage (containing the P15 mutation) is found most often in the Europe and the Middle East.

  •  I
     The I, I1, and I1a lineages are nearly completely restricted to northwestern Europe. These would most likely have been common within Viking populations. One lineage of this group extends down into central Europe.

    •  I1b
       This subgroup of Haplogroup I is found within the Balkans countries at it's greatest frequency and diversity. These countries probably harbored this subset of Haplogroup I as a refuge during the Last Glacial Maximum.

    • I2
       Description not yet available from FTDNA

  • J
    Haplogroup J is found at highest frequencies in Middle Eastern and north African populations where it most likely evolved. This marker has been carried by Middle Eastern traders into Europe, central Asia, India, and Pakistan. The Cohen modal lineage is found in Haplogroup J.

    • J1
      Haplogroup J is found at highest frequencies in Middle Eastern and north African populations where it most likely evolved. This marker has been carried by Middle Eastern traders into Europe, central Asia, India, and Pakistan. The Cohen modal lineage is found in Haplogroup J*.

    • J2
      This lineage originated in the Northern portion of the Fertile Crescent where it later spread throughout central Asia, the Mediterranean and South into India. As with other populations with Mediterranean ancestry this lineage is found within the Jewish populations.

  • N
    This haplogroup is distributed throughout Northern Eurasia. It is the most common Y-chromosome type in Uralic speakers (Finns and Hungarians). This lineage most likely originated in northern China or Mongolia and then spread into Siberia where it became a very common line in western Siberia.

  • O3
    O3 is the major lineage of China. It is found throughout East and Southeast Asia. This lineage also occurs in central and northern Asia at low frequencies, as well as throughout the south Pacific. It has been hypothesized that this lineage may have spread through the south Pacific in the same wave as haplogroup O1.

  • Q
    Haplogroup Q is the lineage that links Asia and the Americas. This lineage is found in North and Central Asian populations as well as native Americans. This lineage is believed to have originated in Central Asia and migrated through the Altai/Baikal region of northern Eurasia into the Americas.
    • Q3
      Haplogroup Q3 is the only lineage strictly associated with native American populations. This haplogroup is defined by the presence of the M3 mutation (also known as SY103). This mutation occurred on the Q lineage 8-12 thousand years ago as the migration into the Americas was underway. There is some debate as to on which side of the Bering Strait this mutation occurred, but it definitely happened in the ancestors of the Native American peoples.

  • R1
    The undifferentiated R1 lineage is quite rare. It is found only at very low frequencies in Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. This lineage possibly originated in Europe and then migrated east into Asia.

  •  R1a
     The R1a lineage is believed to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas. This lineage is believed to have originated in a population of the Korgan culture, known for the domestication of the horse (approximately 3000 B.C.E.). These people were also believed to be the first speakers of the Indo-European language group. This lineage is currently found in central and western Asia, India, and in Slavic populations of Eastern Europe.

  •  R1b
    R1b is the most common haplogroup in European populations. It is believed to have expanded throughout Europe as humans re-colonized after the last glacial maximum 10-12 thousand years ago. This lineage is also the haplogroup containing the Atlantic modal haplotype.

  • S
    New Haplogroup S is found in Indonesia and Oceania

  • T
    New Haplogroup T, the clade that Thomas Jefferson’s Y chromosome belongs to, has a Middle Eastern affinity.