The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity of 58 individuals from Upper Egypt, more than half (34 individuals) from Gurna, whose population has an ancient cultural history, were studied by sequencing the control-region and screening diagnostic RFLP markers. This sedentary population presented similarities to the Ethiopian population by the L1 and L2 macrohaplogroup frequency (20.6%), by the West Eurasian component (defined by haplogroups H to K and T to X) and particularly by a high frequency (17.6%) of haplogroup M1 .
We statistically and phylogenetically analysed and compared the Gurna population with other Egyptian, Near East and sub-Saharan Africa populations; AMOVA and Minimum Spanning Network analysis showed that the Gurna population was not isolated from neighbouring populations. Our results suggest that the Gurna population has conserved the trace of an ancestral genetic structure from an ancestral East African population, characterized by a high M1 haplogroup frequency. The current structure of the Egyptian population may be the result of further influence of neighbouring populations on this ancestral population. PMID: 14748828 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
This population is closely related to Nubian Kerma culture which is very interesting because here is a picture of a member of this ancient population. Strangely they are not linked to Near Eastern either. hmmmmmm!
I have read that Qurna or Gurna notice the phonetics to Kerma are rumored to have a tradition of being Tomb robbers though it is quite interesting to think if these people are the descendants of Kerma culture.
M1 presence could more likely be gene flow from East Africa into southwest Asia, as it is not found elsewhere in west Eurasia, nor the greater part of Asia for that matter. Nonetheless, it isn't difficult to notice the transparently cautious approach the authors decided to take with M1 [notwithstanding their earlier acknowlegement of the assignment of the **origin of these lineages to Africa**],...
“...In the case of Ethiopia, the west Eurasian types mostly match types in Arabia, with only a couple of exceptions of rare derived types not found elsewhere. Haplogroups (pre-HV)1 and M1 are found primarily both in eastern Africa and Near East. In Ethiopia, in contrast to the other west Eurasian types, instances of both (pre-HV)1 and M1 types tended to be unique types or to match others found only in East Africa. These patterns - as well as the rather higher frequencies of (pre-HV)1 and M1 in Ethiopia - suggest that the (pre-HV)1 and M1 lineages in Ethiopia may be the result of fairly ancient interactions between East Africa and Eurasia, whereas the other west Eurasian types may the result of more recent historical gene flow…”
M1 lineages seems to be a probable suspect for the illusive Indo-Afrikan marker so I am going to SPECULATE that the Dravidians link to native Afrikans will come from a M1 mutation. This Qurna\Gurna group could have been the Ancient Dravidians who migrated back to their homeland from India then set up the Kerma Culture and the Qurna population are their descendants. Pure SPECULATION on my part but I think I might be right.
posted
Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Diversity in a Sedentary Population from Egypt Annals of Human Genetics Volume 68 Page 23 - January 2004
Taken from article:
Discussion:
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA diversity in a sedentary Egyptian population from Gurna shows that the M1 haplogroup is present in this region at a frequency similar to that observed in the Ethiopian population. The level of the M1 haplogroup in Gurna (17.6%) is the second highest value obtained for this haplogroup, just below the value of the Ethiopian population (20%) (Quintana-Murci et al. 1999). RFLP groupings of Gurna samples carried out as established by Passarino et al. (1998) showed that the Gurna population was close to the Ethiopian population also for L1 and L2 macrohaplogroup frequency and by a West Eurasian component which seems similar in frequency but different in haplogroup distribution. On the other hand, despite its M1 specificity, statistical analysis of haplotypes of Gurnawis indicated that the Gurna population was not isolated from all other neighbouring populations. It was not statistically different from any other Egyptian or Sudanese populations, exhibiting an intermediate genetic status between European and sub-Saharan according to Northern/Southern analysis (following criteria described in Krings et al. (1999). The Gurna population appeared statistically as close to Near Eastern as to sub-Saharan and Sudanese populations, even though these two groups were statistically different.
The Gurna area could be the meeting point of two independent waves of migration from the Near East and from sub-Saharan Africa, as suggested by the central position of the Gurna population in the unrooted NJ tree and the genetic and the nucleotidic diversity of the analysed populations. The presence in the Gurna gene pool of haplogroups found in Near Eastern populations but absent in sub-Saharan ones (like U4), and haplogroups found in sub-Saharan populations but only sporadically present in Near Eastern ones (like L1), reinforces this observation.
However, the Gurnawi gene pool does not consist of a simple combination of Near Eastern and sub-Saharan gene pools, but also includes an East African specific component. This situation has already been observed for the Ethiopian gene pool (Passarino et al. 1998). Thus, the report of a second population in this geographic area showing a similar distribution of mtDNA haplotypes, including the same high frequency of a specific haplogroup (M1), raises the question of a hypothetical presence of an ancestral East African population. Such a population, as evoked by Passarino et al. (1998) for Ethiopia, could have settled on a wider area from Egypt to Ethiopia (including Sudan), the differences observed in current populations being due to further influences from neighbours (South Arabian peninsula for Ethiopia (Maca-Meyer et al. 2001), sub-Saharan input for Sudan as demonstrated in this study by a high exchange rate between Sudanese and Kenyan populations). A similar hypothesis of the existence of an ancestral population characterized by a specific haplogroup could also be evoked in the Maghreb with the U6 haplogroup (Brakez et al. 2001; Rando et al. 1998).
The results of this study point to a genetic structure of the Gurna population similar to that of the Ethiopian one. This population structure has probably been conserved in some other Egyptian populations even though those which have already been analyzed, such as Mansoura, Assiout and Cairo, failed to show the same characteristics. Mansoura, Assiout and Cairo are very big cities with much continuous and current admixture of individuals from several other regions and countries forming great melting pots. Consequently, data from these great conurbations could be somewhat biased. More extensive investigation of the genetic structure of Egyptians from other villages and from Ethiopian and Sudanese populations will be required to complete the understanding of the structuring of the current population from the ancestral East African population.
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Hotep2u: I'll pass on the whole PDF tonight.
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quote: Hotep - M1 lineages seems to be a probable suspect for the illusive Indo-Afrikan marker so I am going to SPECULATE that the Dravidians link to native Afrikans will come from a M1 mutation
This speculation is not sound according to geneticists, as M1 and Indian derived M are diverged by several single event polymorphisms - meaning there is no way for M1 to mutate into Indian M2,3, etc., or vice versa. That's why no geneticists hypothesis to this effect:
Indeed, the reconstructed ancestral motifs of all Indian M haplogroups turned out to be devoid of those variations that characterized M1, - Chang Sun, et. al
There is no evidence of neolithic gene flow between Africans and Indians. The populations diverged in the Upper Paleolithic. To suggest otherwise is misleading.
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quote: This speculation is not sound according to geneticists, as M1 and Indian derived M are diverged by several single event polymorphisms - meaning there is no way for M1 to mutate into Indian M2,3, etc., or vice versa. That's why no geneticists hypothesis to this effect:
Indeed, the reconstructed ancestral motifs of all Indian M haplogroups turned out to be devoid of those variations that characterized M1, - Chang Sun, et. al
There is no evidence of neolithic gene flow between Africans and Indians. The populations diverged in the Upper Paleolithic. To suggest otherwise is misleading.
Rasol that comment is wrong, I am quite optimistic that M1 will be the illusive Indo-Afrikan gene at the very least geneticist may choose to call the MUTATION that comes from M1 as M1b or something to that effect. The possibility is quite probable that M1 will either be the gateway gene that leads to the indo-Afrikan gene carried by the Dravidians or M1 will be classified as the indo-Afrikan gene.
Gurna(U4) populations and Maghreb(U6) populations cannot be a accident.
quote: This speculation is not sound according to geneticists, as M1 and Indian derived M are diverged by several single event polymorphisms - meaning there is no way for M1 to mutate into Indian M2,3, etc., or vice versa. That's why no geneticists hypothesis to this effect:
Indeed, the reconstructed ancestral motifs of all Indian M haplogroups turned out to be devoid of those variations that characterized M1, - Chang Sun, et. al
There is no evidence of neolithic gene flow between Africans and Indians. The populations diverged in the Upper Paleolithic. To suggest otherwise is misleading.
Rasol that comment is wrong, I am quite optimistic that M1 will be the illusive Indo-Afrikan gene at the very least geneticist may choose to call the MUTATION that comes from M1 as M1b or something to that effect. The possibility is quite probable that M1 will either be the gateway gene that leads to the indo-Afrikan gene carried by the Dravidians or M1 will be classified as the indo-Afrikan gene.
Gurna(U4) populations and Maghreb(U6) populations cannot be a accident.
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