Haplogroup U7 (mtDNA)

Anfänger

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Ethnic group
Iranian
Y-DNA haplogroup
R1b-Z2103
mtDNA haplogroup
U7a4
Since i could not find any thread related to my maternal lineage i am going to start this one.
This is what i have found so far :

Origin and spread of human mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup U7 (2017)
-https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46044

Some interesting parts from this paper:

Compared to other subclades of hg U, both the phylogenetic structure and the ancestral origin of hg U7 are rather obscure. This haplogroup is characterized by generally low population frequencies and limited sequence diversity, despite a geographic distribution ranging from Europe to India. Recently, it has been detected in skeletal remains from Southwest Iran dated ~six thousand years ago
(kya) well as in remains from the Tarim Basin in Northwest China (3.5–4.0 kya). It has been previously shown that low-frequency mitochondrial haplogroups with relict distributions, similar to hg U7, can be disproportionately informative about ancient human dispersal events.

Another major episode of gene flow affecting the European gene pool appears to have occurred during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, from a source in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe region north of the Caucasus. It has been suggested that this migration resulted in a further substantial shift in the genetic profile of Europeans and was a major vehicle for the movement of Indo-European languages to Europe, and likely also to South Asia. Interestingly, the autosomal genetic component in Europeans considered to derive from the Steppe is almost fixed in two pre-Neolithic ancient genomes from the South Caucasus. This component is distributed eastwards towards South Asia as well, where it mimics the distribution of U7 (Pearson’s r = 0.65, p = 0.01). Our time estimates for the expansion and differentiation of hg U7 in the Near East, Central Asia, South Asia, and Europe, however, predate these putative late Neolithic-early Bronze Age migrations and thereby rule them out as a major vehicle for the spread of U7 to Europe and South Asia. In this respect, it is also noteworthy that Yamnaya herders of the Steppe so far analysed (n = 43) show no traces of U7 – and U7 is rarely found in this region today.

When i read Wang et al (2018) i found that there was indeed U7 mtDNA in the Steppe group, whereas it was not in the Caucasus group.

From wikipedia :

"Genetic analysis of individuals associated with the Late Hallstatt culture from Baden-Württemberg Germany considered to be examples of Iron Age "princely burials" included haplogroup U7. Haplogroup U7 was reported to have been found in 1200-year-old human remains (dating to around 834), in a woman believed to be from a royal clan who was buried with the Viking Oseberg Ship in Norway. Haplogroup U7 was found in 1000-year-old human remains (dating to around AD 1000-1250) in a Christian cemetery is Kongemarken Denmark. However, U7 is rare among present-day ethnic Scandinavians."



 
Do they have unpublished samples from the Caucasus? "Steppe-like" ancestry was barely found in BA Armenia and none of it in the few Anatolian samples of the BA too, but a fully steppe-like Caucasian population aleeady exited before the Neolithic? Their wording is a bit vague. Also, would that imply a complete genetic replacement in the steppes after the Neolithic? After all, if a fixed steppe-like component mixed with some of the native steppe people, the result would not be "steppe ancestry" any longer, but a different proportion of admixtures.

Did you really mean that in Wang you found U7 in the steppe group, but not in the Caucasus group? That contradicts what this study claims, doesn't it? In any case, they do not believe U7 was related to the Late Neolithic/Early BA migrations that brought a different autosomal component to Europe, West Asia and South Asia, so it might be related to much earlier migrations. Possibly the expansion of Iranian farming?
 
The study is from 2017 they said that there wasn't U7 found yet in the Steppe people but if, it would have been a vector to its wide range from Europe to South Asia. And it would really fit in the proposed Early Bronze Age/Late Neolithic expansion of this people East to South Asia.The Hybrid model of Krauses Team had an arrow going East IIRC. There is U7 in the mtDNA in the steppe group (Volga Region) from Wang et al. 2018 so one year later ,you can look it up.
I don't know what would have happened to the native steppe guys, maybe totally replacement, I don't really know. Maybe by the time of Bronze Age Armenia the autosamal admixture would have been diluted.
 
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I think they might be referring just to the CHG part of the steppe ancestry, Kotias and Satsurblia, because I am unaware of any new Mesolithic samples of the Caucasus. As for that hybrid model, I was a bit stunned by their drawing an arrow directly from the Caucasus to South Asia instead of via the secondary steppe homeland and from there to South Asia crossing Central Asia, which is much more fitting with the other recent genetic evidences as well as the linguistic affinities of Indo-Aryan languages with other "northern" branches of IE. Really weird.
 
Yes, the model is really weird. I think they are proposing the Greeko-Armeno-Aryan hypothesis. I think it is funny to see that my maternal lineage was part of the steppe. And from there maybe to Northern Europe. And there wasn‘t a thread related to my mtDNA that’s why I started one.
 
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