Regional differences in the distribution of the sub‐Saharan, West Eurasian, and South Asian mtDNA lineages in Yemen

Abstract

Despite its key location for population movements out of and back into Africa, Yemen has not yet been sampled on a regional level for an investigation of sub-Saharan, West Eurasian, and South Asian genetic contributions. In this study, we present mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data for regionally distinct Yemeni populations that reveal different distributions of mtDNA lineages. An extensive database of mtDNA sequences from North and East African, Middle Eastern and Indian populations was analyzed to provide a context for the regional Yemeni mtDNA datasets. The groups of western Yemen appear to be most closely related to Middle Eastern and North African populations, while the eastern Yemeni population from Hadramawt is most closely related to East Africa. Furthermore, haplotype matches with Africa are almost exclusively confined to West Eurasian R0a haplogroup in southwestern Yemen, although more sub-Saharan L-type matches appear in more northern Yemeni populations. In fact, Yemeni populations have the highest frequency of R0a haplotypes detected to date, thus Yemen or southern Arabia may be the site of the initial expansion of this haplogroup. Whereas two variants of the sub-Saharan haplogroup M1 were detected only in southwestern Yemen close to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, different non-African M haplotypes were detected at low frequencies (approximately 2%) in western parts of the country and at a higher frequency (7.5%) in the Hadramawt. We conclude that the Yemeni gene pool is highly stratified both regionally and temporally and that it has received West Eurasian, Northeast African, and South Asian gene flow.

Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal stratification in Iran: relationship between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula

“…The Persian groups obtained from previous studies also display high degrees of similarity with the Peninsular Arabs; however, they all exhibit greater contribution from adjacent populations especially with groups from Caucasia. These genetic affinities are also evident in the MDS projection (Figure 2a) in which all the Iranian populations plot between the Arab collections, and the Levant-Anatolia and the 72 Similarly, the Balochis under the leadership of Iranian Gedrassians 73,74 are believed to have traversed the Strait of Hormuz into the Arabian range and are considered responsible for introducing Asian/Indian-specific b-thalassaemia mutations into the Peninsula. 73,75 These military campaigns are Y-chromosome-driven migrations of minimal mtDNA impact.…”

Genetic Variation and Adaptation in Africa: Implications for Human Evolution and Disease

“…There is also a unique distribution pattern of mtDNA haplotypes across Africa with some lineages restricted to specific geographical regions and/or language families (Fig. 3) (Newman 1980;Vigilant 1990Vigilant , 1991Chen et al 1995Chen et al , 2000Ehret 1995Ehret , 2006Watson et al 1996Watson et al , 1997Rando et al 1998;Krings et al 1999;Richards et al 2000;Pereira et al 2001;Salas et al 2002;Thomas et al 2002;Destro-Bisol et al 2004;Kivisild et al 2004;Beleza et al 2005;Coia et al 2005;Jackson et al 2005;Cerny et al 2006Cerny et al , 2008Cerny et al , 2009Gonzalez et al 2006;Batini et al 2007;Gonder et al 2007;Behar et al 2008;Coudray et al 2008;Quintana-Murci et al 2008Castri et al 2009;Coelho et al 2009;Poloni et al 2009;Saunier et al 2009;Stefflova et al 2009;Veeramah et al 2010). Additionally, there is also a predominance of some Y chromosome and mtDNA lineages in specific regions of Africa.…”

Local Population Structure in Arabian Peninsula Revealed by Y-STR Diversity

“…Lineage marker based population studies, such as those undertaken with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences [see 1 for a review], have been used to refine the Out-of-Africa model, favouring a possible southern route of migration, from the Horn of Africa, through the south of the Arabian Peninsula, to south India, southeast Asia and Australasia [2,3] . However, data obtained so far on specific Arabian populations are somewhat contradictory, some now indicating only a minor African influence in Saudi Arabia [4] , Yemen [5,6] and Dubai [7] . Moreover, slave trade has been proposed as the major cause for sub-Saharan mtDNA haplogroups in Arabian populations [8] .…”