Question

Ancient mtDNA genomes in Assyrians suggest that a large number had the HV haplotype (not H, not V but between the two). This same haplotypeis observed in modern groups in Western Asia, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and North Africa. What genetic processes might account for this distribution

Answer 1

Assyrian carry T-M184 at 41%. This Haplogroup is common amoungst Jews and Druze in the Middle East. They also carry J-M267 at 28% which is found amongst other Western Asians. Assyrians living in Iran carry Haplogroup J-M304 which is also found in the Arabian Peninsula.

Most of the Haplogroups of Assyrians are indigenous to other Middle Eastern peoples, so Assyrians are more related to other Mid East peoples than Greeks or Armenians.

In a DNA testcomprising 48 Assyrian male subjects from Iran, the Y-DNA haplogroups J-M304, found in its greatest concentration in the Arabian peninsula, and the Indo European-linked R1b(specifically R-M269), were also frequent at 29.2% each. R-M269 was brought from the Pontic–Caspian steppe in Eurasia, a region hypothesised to be the Proto-Indo-European homeland. The high frequency of the Atlantic modal haplotype in Assyrians showcases that the ancient Assyrians had considerable genetic interaction with the peoples who migrated to northwest Europe, a region where the R1b haplogroup is common.

According to a 2006 study of Assyrian males from Iraq, Iran and Turkey J-M267 measured at 28.6%, 16.1% and 20.0%, respectively, is significant among Semitic people of Western Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa and the second most common haplogroup among Assyrians. This was followed by J2 at 13.4%, which is commonly found in the Fertile Crescent, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Italy, coastal Mediterranean. Other Y-DNAhaplogroups included were Afro Asiatic-linked E1b1b (11.2%), G-M201 (8.9%), which is significantly found in the Caucasus and Georgia, and the Proto Indo European-linked R1a (8.3%).

The most frequent occurring mtDNA haplogroups were H (the most common mtDNA haplogroup in Europe), J (found highly in the Arabian Peninsula) and U (frequent in Europe, Western Asia and North Africa).