Haplogroup J-M172


In human genetics, Haplogroup J-M172 or J2 is a Y-chromosome haplogroup which is a subclade of haplogroup J-M304. Haplogroup J-M172 is common in modern populations in Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southern Europe, Northwestern Iran and North Africa. It is thought that J-M172 may have originated in the Caucasus, Anatolia, Mesopotamia and/or present-day Western Iran.
It is further divided into two complementary clades, J-M410 and J-M12.

Origins

The date of origin for haplogroup J-M172 was estimated by Batini et al in 2015 as between 19,000 and 24,000 years before present. Samino et al in 2004 dated the origin of the parent haplogroup, J-P209, to between 18,900 and 44,500 YBP. Ancient J-M410, specifically subclade J-Y12379*, has been found, in a Mesolithic context, in a tooth from the Kotias Klde Cave in western Georgia from the Late Upper Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic This sample has been assigned to the Caucasus hunter-gatherers autosomal component. J-M410, more specifically its subclade J-PF5008, has also been found in a Mesolithic sample from the Hotu and Kamarband Caves located in Mazandaran Province of Iran, dating back to 9,100-8,600 B.C.E. Both samples belong to the Trialetian Culture.
It is likely that J2 men had settled over most of Anatolia, the South Caucasus and the Zagros mountains by the end of the Last Glaciation 12,000 years ago.
and claimed to have uncovered the earliest known migration of J2, expanded possibly from Anatolia and the Caucasus. found that, "According to, Eu 9 evolved from Eu 10 through a T→G transversion at M172," and that in today's populations, Eu 9 is strongest in the Caucasus, Asia Minor and the Levant, whilst Eu 10 becomes stronger and replaces the frequency of Eu 9 as one moves south into the Arabian Peninsula, so that people from the Caucasus met with Arabs near and between Mesopotamia and the Negev Desert, as "Arabisation" spread from Arabia to the Fertile Crescent and Turkey.
postulated that J-M172 haplogroup spread into Southern Europe from either the Levant or Anatolia, likely parallel to the development of agriculture. As to the timing of its spread into Europe, Di Giacomo et al. points to events which post-date the Neolithic, in particular the demographic floruit associated with the rise of the Ancient Greek world. derived older age estimates for overall J2, postulating its initial spread with Neolithic farmers from the Near East. However, its subclade distribution, showing localized peaks in the Southern Balkans, southern Italy, north/central Italy and the Caucasus, does not conform to a single 'wave-of-advance' scenario, betraying a number of still poorly understood post-Neolithic processes which created its current pattern. Like Di Giacomo et al., the Bronze Age southern Balkans was suggested by Semino et al. to have been an important vector of spread.

Distribution

Haplogroup J-M172 is found mainly in the Fertile Crescent, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Italy, the Mediterranean littoral, and the Iranian plateau. Y-DNA: J2 : Syrid/Nahrainid Arabid.
The highest reported frequency of J-M172 ever was 87.4%, among Ingush in Malgobek.
More specifically it is found in Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, North Caucasus, Armenia, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, Greece, Albania, Italy, Spain, and more frequently in Iraqis 24%, Chechens 51.0%-58.0%, Georgians 21%-72%, Lebanese 30%, Ossetians 24%, Balkars 24%, Syrians 23%,, Assyrians 15%, Turks 13%-40%, Cypriots 12.9%-37%, Armenians 21%-24%, Circassians 21.8%, Bahrainis 27.6%, Iranians 10%-25%, Albanians 16%, Italians 9%-36%, Sephardi Jews 15%-29%, Maltese 21%, Palestinians 17%, Saudis 14%, Jordanians 14%, Omanis 10%-15%, and North Indian Shia Muslim 18%.

North Africa

Haplogroup J2 is found with low frequencies in North Africa with a hotspot in Sousse region, most of Sousse samples have the same haplotypes found in Haplogroup J-L271 which was found in Msaken.

Central Asia

Country/RegionSamplingNJ-M172Study
XinjiangLop Uyghurs6457.8
XinjiangUyghurs5034
TajikistanYaghnobis3132
DushanbeTajiks1631
XinjiangUzbeks2330.4
AfghanistanHazara6026.6
XinjiangKeriyan Uyghurs3925.6
KazakhstanUyghurs4120
SamarkandTajiks4020
TajikistanTajiks3818.4
TurkmenistanTurkmens3017
XinjiangPamiri Tajiks3116.1
AfghanistanUzbeks12616
BukharaUzbeks5816
SamarkandUzbeks4516
SurkhandaryaUzbeks6816
UzbekistanUzbeks36613.4
KazakhstanKazakhs3013.3
Turpan areaUyghurs1439.8
Hotan areaUyghurs4789.2
ChangjiHui1759.1
XinjiangDolan Uyghurs767.9
NingxiaHui657.7
KizilsuKyrgyz2416.64%
KazakhstanKazakhs12944.33%
KyrgyzstanKyrgyz1323.79%

J-M172 is found at moderate frequencies among Central Asian people such as Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Tajiks, Kazakhs, and Yaghnobis. According to the genetic study in Northwest China by Shou et al., a notable high frequency of J-M172 is observed particularly in Uyghurs 34% and Uzbeks 30.4% in Xinjiang, China. Liu Shuhu et al. found J2a1 in 43.75% and J2a2 in 14.06% of a sample of Lop Uyghurs from Qarchugha Village of Yuli County, Xinjiang, J2a1b1 in 25.64% of a sample of Keriyan Uyghurs from Darya Boyi Village of Yutian County, Xinjiang, and J2a1 in 3.95% and J2a2 in 3.95% of a sample of Dolan Uyghurs from Horiqol Township of Awat County, Xinjiang. Only far northwestern ethnic minorities had haplogroup J in Xinjiang, China. Uzbeks in the sample had 30.4% J2-M172 and Tajiks of Xinjiang and Uyghurs also had it.
The haplogroup has an ancient presence in Central Asia and seems to have preceded the spread of Islam. In addition, the immediate ancestor of J-M172, namely J* is also found among Xibo, Kazakh, Dongxiang and Uzbek people in Northwest China.
In 2015, two ancient samples belonging to J-M172 or J-M410 were found at two different archaeological sites in Altai, eastern Russia: Kytmanovo and Sary-bel kurgan. Both of the ancient samples are related to Iron Age cultures in Altai. Sary-bel J2/J2a is dated to 50 BC whereas Kytmanovo sample is dated to 721-889 AD. Genetic admixture analysis of these samples also suggests that the individuals were more closely related to West Eurasians than other Altaians from the same period, although they also seem to be related to present-day Turkic peoples of the region.

Europe

In Europe, the frequency of Haplogroup J-M172 drops as one moves northward away from the Mediterranean. In Italy, J-M172 is found with regional frequencies ranging between 9% and 36%. In Greece, it is found with regional frequencies ranging between 10% and 48%. Detailed and modern phylogenetic analysis strongly suggests the Caucasus and regions North of it as likely to be the origin of the Greek and Italian J-M172 haplogroup.
It has been proposed that haplogroup subclade J-M410 was linked to populations on ancient Crete by examining the relationship between Anatolian, Cretan, and Greek populations from around early Neolithic sites in Crete. Haplogroup J-M172 was associated with Neolithic Greece and was reported to be found in modern Crete and mainland Greece.

North Caucasus

J-M172 is found at very high frequencies in certain peoples of the Caucasus: among the Ingush 87.4%, Chechens 57.8%, Georgians 21%-72%, Azeris 24%-48%, Abkhaz 25%, Balkars 24%, Ossetians 24%, Armenians 21%-24%, Adyghe 21.8%, and other groups.

West Asia

Sephardi Jews have about 15%-29%, of haplogroup J-M172, and Ashkenazi Jews have 15%-23%. It was reported in an early study which tested only four STR markers that a small sample of Italian Cohens belonged to Network 1.2, an early designation for the overall clade now known as J-L26, defined by the deletion at DYS413. However, a large number of all Jewish Cohens in the world belong to haplogroup J-M267. Approximately 24% of Turkish men are J-M172, with regional frequencies ranging between 13% and 40%. Combined with J-M267, up to half of the Turkish population belongs to Haplogroup J-P209.
Haplogroup J-M172 has been shown to have a more northern distribution in the Middle East, although it exists in significant amounts in the southern middle-east regions, a lesser amount of it was found when compared to its brother haplogroup, J-M267, which has a high frequency southerly distribution. It was believed that the source population of J-M172 originated from the Levant/Syria, and that its occurrence among modern populations of Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia was a sign of the Neolithic agriculturalists. However, as stated it is now believed more likely to have been spread in waves, as a result of post-Neolithic processes.