Haplogroup N (Y-DNA)

In human genetics, Haplogroup N (LLY22G, M231) is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup.

This haplogroup appears in Northern Europe, Central Europe, and throughout both the European and Asian parts of Russia.

Haplogroup N is a descendant haplogroup of Haplogroup NO, and is believed to have first appeared in Siberia, Mongolia, or China approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. It is believed to have been transported across Eurasia by large-scale human migrations of peoples who, according to some theories, were speakers of Uralic languages.

In regards to the geographic origin of Haplogroup N, it is important to note that Y-chromosomes belonging to Haplogroup N as well as undifferentiated or paraphyletic Haplogroup NO* both occur at low frequencies among populations of East Asia, including the relatively isolated Japanese, and that Haplogroup O, which is the "brother" to Haplogroup N in the Y-chromosome phylogenetic tree, is found almost exclusively in East Asia, where it is the modal haplogroup. This may be taken to suggest a prehistoric relationship between the proto-Uralians and most of the ancestors of various peoples who are archaeologically and historically associated with the region of China. However, some commentators have noted that Haplogroup Q, which is the modal haplogroup among Native American populations, as well as Haplogroup R, which is the modal haplogroup among European populations, and even Haplogroup P*, which is ancestral to both Haplogroup Q and Haplogroup R, are found at low to moderate frequency throughout most of East Asia. Thus, the detection of Y-chromosomes that belong to Haplogroup N among populations as geographically and, otherwise, genetically distant as the Finns and the Vietnamese may not necessarily be indicative of a recent common ancestry of the two peoples.

Haplogroup N is the ancestral group for N1, N2, and N3. Y-chromosomes that display the LLY22g and M231 mutations that define Haplogroup N but do not display any of the downstream mutations that define the subclades N1, N2, and N3 are said to belong to Haplogroup N*. Haplogroup N* is rarely found among modern human populations, although it is relatively common among populations of southwestern China.

Subgroups

The subclades of Haplogroup N with their defining mutation, according to the 2006 ISOGG tree:

• N (LLY22g, M231)
  • N*
  • N1 (M128) Found at a low frequency among Manchu, Sibe, Manchurian Evenks, Koreans, northern Han Chinese, Buyei, and some Turkic peoples of Central Asia
  • N2 (P43) Typical of Northern Samoyedic peoples; also found at low to moderate frequency among some other Uralic peoples, Turkic peoples, Mongolic peoples, Tungusic peoples, and Eskimos
    • N2*
    • N2a (P63)
  • N3 (Tat (M46)) Typical of the Sakha and Uralic peoples, with a moderate distribution throughout North Eurasia
    • N3*
    • N3a (M178)
      • N3a*
      • N3a1 (P21)

External links

• Map of N
• Spread of Haplogroup N, from The Genographic Project, National Geographic
• N Y-DNA Haplogroup Project at FamilyTreeDNA