The geographic location of Egypt, at the interface between North Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe, prompted us to investigate the genetic diversity of this population and its relationship with neighboring populations. To assess the extent to which the modern Egyptian population reflects this intermediate geographic position, ten Unique Event Polymorphisms (UEPs), mapping to the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome, have been typed in 164 Y chromosomes from three North African populations. The analysis of these binary markers, which define 11 Y-chromosome lineages, were used to determine the haplogroup frequencies in Egyptians, Moroccan Arabs, and Moroccan Berbers and thereby define the Y-chromosome background in these regions. Pairwise comparisons with a set of 15 different populations from neighboring European, North African, and Middle Eastern populations and geographic analysis showed the absence of any significant genetic barrier in the eastern part of the Mediterranean area, suggesting that genetic variation and gene flow in this area follow the "isolation-by-distance" model. These results are in sharp contrast with the observation of a strong north-south genetic barrier in the western Mediterranean basin, defined by the Gibraltar Strait. Thus, the Y-chromosome gene pool in the modern Egyptian population reflects a mixture of European, Middle Eastern, and African characteristics, highlighting the importance of ancient and recent migration waves, followed by gene flow, in the region
Posts: 2463 | From: New Jersey USA | Registered: Dec 2007
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I was going to go to sleep but anyways. As I am reading it I think the data is fimiliar but i noticed one thing.
quote: One Egyptian individual was found with an Hg 4 Y chromosome. This lineage has not been observed in any European nor African populations, but it is present at high frequencies (-45%) in some East Asian populations, such as the Japanese and Tibetans (Karafet et al. 1999).
Could we assume that this is Haplogroup D? When i think Tibetans and Japanese I think Haplogroup D. If so could we then say: Haplogroup D HAS been found in Afica? Am i reading into this too much?
Posts: 2463 | From: New Jersey USA | Registered: Dec 2007
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^Not necessarily, since the authors tested for YAP+, which is shared between Hgs D and Hg E. The Egyptian YAP+ was very likely a paraphyletic chromosome that did not test positive for Hg E*, you know, like Hg DE*. The 12f2 marker tested here, I assume refers to Hg J, which here is designated as Hg 9. The nomenclature used here is apparently outdated, but the finding of an upstream YAP+ chromosome that didn't belong to Hg E (as denoted here by SRY8299) is interesting nonetheless, because it adds to that theme of the unparralleled richness of Hg DE and derivatives on the African continent, as well as the distribution of the upstream DE* clade being *predominantly* an African 'thing'.
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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