Origin and diffusion of human Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267.

Human Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267 is a common male lineage in West Asia. One high-frequency region—encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, southern Mesopotamia, and the southern Levant—resides ~ 2000 km away from the other one found in the Caucasus. The region between them, although has a lower frequency, nevertheless demonstrates high genetic diversity. Studies associate this haplogroup with the spread of farming from the Fertile Crescent to Europe, the spread of mobile pastoralism in the desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula, the history of the Jews, and the spread of Islam. Here, we study past human male demography in West Asia with 172 high-coverage whole Y chromosome sequences and 889 genotyped samples of haplogroup J1-M267. We show that this haplogroup evolved ~ 20,000 years ago somewhere in northwestern Iran, the Caucasus, the Armenian Highland, and northern Mesopotamia. The major branch—J1a1a1-P58—evolved during the early Holocene ~ 9500 years ago somewhere in the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and southern Mesopotamia. Haplogroup J1-M267 expanded during the Chalcolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Most probably, the spread of Afro-Asiatic languages, the spread of mobile pastoralism in the arid zones, or both of these events together explain the distribution of haplogroup J1-M267 we see today in the southern regions of West Asia.

人类Y染色体单倍群J1 - M267是西亚常见的男性谱系。一个高频区域——包括阿拉伯半岛、美索不达米亚南部和黎凡特南部——与在高加索地区发现的另一个高频区域相距约2000公里。它们之间的区域虽然频率较低，但却显示出高度的遗传多样性。研究将这一单倍群与农业从新月沃地向欧洲的传播、阿拉伯半岛沙漠地区游牧生活的传播、犹太人的历史以及伊斯兰教的传播联系起来。在此，我们通过172个高覆盖度的全Y染色体序列以及889个J1 - M267单倍群的基因分型样本研究西亚过去的人类男性人口统计学。我们表明，这个单倍群大约在20000年前在伊朗西北部、高加索地区、亚美尼亚高原以及美索不达米亚北部的某个地方进化而来。主要分支J1a1a1 - P58大约在9500年前的全新世早期在阿拉伯半岛、黎凡特和美索不达米亚南部的某个地方进化而来。单倍群J1 - M267在铜石并用时代、青铜时代和铁器时代扩张。很可能是亚非语系的传播、干旱地区游牧生活的传播，或者这两个事件共同解释了我们今天在西亚南部地区看到的J1 - M267单倍群的分布情况。