Haplogroup G (M201) is a human Y-chromosome haplogroup. It is one of two branches of the parent haplogroup GHIJK, the other being HIJK.

G-M201 is widely thought to have originated in Western Asia. It is now most commonly found among various ethnic groups of the Caucasus, and to a lesser degree the Mediterranean, but is also widely distributed at low frequencies among ethnic groups throughout Europe, West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and North Africa.

The most commonly occurring subclades are G1* (M285) and many subclades of G2 (G-P287), especially: G2a (P15), G2a1 (G-FGC7535, formerly G-L293), G2a2b2a (G-P303) formerly G2a3b1); G2a2b1 (G-M406) formerly G2a3a; G2a2b2a1 (G-L140) formerly G2a3b1a; G2a2b2a1a1b (G-L497) formerly G2a3b1a2; G2a2b2a1a1a1 (G-L13) formerly G2a3b1a1a; G2a2b2a1a1c1a (G-CTS5990 or G-Z1903) formerly G2a3b1a3; G2b (G-M3115) and; G2b1 (G-M377), formerly G2b.

Origins The National Geographic Society placed its origins in the Middle East 30,000 years ago and presumes that people carrying the haplogroup took part in the spread of the Neolithic. Two scholarly papers have also suggested an origin in the Middle East, while differing on the date. Semino et al. (2000) suggested 17,000 years ago. Cinnioglu et al. (2004) suggested the mutation took place only 9,500 years ago.

In line with the highest diversity of basal branches, a paper by Siiri Rootsi et al. suggested that "the geographic origin of haplogroup G plausibly locates somewhere nearby eastern Anatolia, Armenia or western Iran."

Structure G* (M201) G1 (M285, M342) G1a (P20.1, P20.2, P20.3) G1a1 (L201, L202, L203) G1b (L830, L831, L832, L834, L835) G2 (P287) G2a (P15, U5, L31/S149, L149) G2a1 (L293^) G2a1a (P16.1, P16.2) G2a1a1 (P18.1, P18.2, P18.3) G2a2 (L223^) G2a2a (M286) G2a2b (L91) G2a2b1 (L166, L167) G2a3 (L30/S126, L32/S148, L190/M485) G2a3a (M406) G2a3a1 (L14/Page57/S130/U16, L90/S133) G2a3a2 (L645) G2a3b (L141.1) G2a3b1 (P303/S135) G2a3b1a (L140) G2a3b1a1 (U1) G2a3b1a1a (L13/S131/U13, L78/M527) G2a3b1a1a1 (L1263^) G2a3b1a1b (L1266^) G2a3b1a1b1 (L1264^, L1265^, L1268^) G2a3b1a2 (L497, L353.1^,L353.2^) G2a3b1a2a (Z725^) G2a3b1a2a1 (L43/S147) G2a3b1a2a1a (L42/S146) G2a3b1a3 (Z1903^) G2a3b1a3a (Z724^) G2a3b1a3a1 (L640) G2a3b1a4 (L660, L662) G2a3b1b (L694) G2a3b2 (L177.1, L177.2, L177.3) G2b (M377, L72, L183) G2b1 (M283)

(Subclades here conform to the Y-DNA SNP definitions used by ISOGG In 2012, several categories found only in one man in research studies were removed from the ISOGG tree causing some renaming.)

Geographic distribution Prehistoric and ancient presence

Ancient G-M201s with sequencing Haplogroup G2a (G-P15) has been identified in Neolithic human remains in Europe dating between 5000 and 3000 BC. These Neolithic Europeans were descendants of Neolithic farmers from Anatolia, among some of the earliest peoples in the world to practice agriculture. G-M201 has also been found in Neolithic Anatolian sites such as Boncuklu dating back to 8300-7600 BCE, and Barcin dating back to 6419-6238 BCE.

Furthermore, the majority of all the male skeletons from the European Neolithic period have so far yielded Y-DNA belonging to this haplogroup. The oldest skeletons confirmed by ancient DNA testing as carrying haplogroup G2a were five found in the Avellaner cave burial site, near Les Planes d'Hostoles, in Catalonia, Spain and were dated by radiocarbon dating to about 5000 BCE.

A skeleton found at the Neolithic cemetery known as Derenburg Meerenstieg II, in Saxony-Anhalt Germany, apparently belonged to G2a3 (G-S126) or a subclade. It was found with burial artifacts belonging to the Linearbandkeramische Kultur ("Linear Band Ceramic Culture"; LBK). This skeleton could not be dated by radiocarbon dating, but other skeletons there were dated to between 5,100 and 6,100 years old. The most detailed SNP mutation identified was S126 (L30), which defines G2a3.

G2a was found also in 20 out of 22 samples of ancient Y-DNA from Treilles, the type-site of a Late Neolithic group of farmers in the Southern France, dated to about 5000 years ago.Marie Lacan, Christine Keyser, François-Xavier Ricaut, Nicolas Brucato, Francis Duranthon, Jean Guilaine, Eric Crubézy, and Bertrand Ludes, Ancient DNA reveals male diffusion through the Neolithic Mediterranean route, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, online 31 May 2011 before print. The fourth site also from the same period is the Ötztal Alps where the mummified remains of Ötzi the Iceman were discovered. The Iceman belongs to haplogroup G2a2b Interview Dr. Eduard Egarter-Vigl, Head of Conservation and Assistant to research projects of the Archaeological Museum in Bozen. From the Docu-Movie: "Ötzi, ein Archäologiekrimi" [Ötzi, a Archaeology Crime] by Christine Sprachmann. TV-Broadcast by 3sat 10 August 2011 and br-alpha 13 September 2011 (earlier called G2a4). Haplogroup G2a2b is a rare group today in Europe. The authors of the Spanish study indicated that the Avellaner men had rare marker values in testing of their short tandem repeat (STR) markers.

During the Chalcolithic, haplogroup G was considered ubiquitous in Anatolia, constituting a significant amount of local Y-DNA haplogroups, along with haplogroup J. It remained common throughout the Chalcolithic, Bronze and pre-Roman ages. A 2004 paper found significant correlation between the Hattian and Kaskian cultures, with the presence of haplogroup G, noting however that higher variances of the G2-P15 subclade exist towards western Anatolia.

Substantial amounts of haplogroup G have been discovered in samples ascribed to the Bronze Age Mycenaean Greeks, at an approximate frequency of 25%, as well as members the Minoan civilisation.

Modern presence

In Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia, members of various ethnic minorities and/or residents in particular localities possess G-M201 at its highest levels in the world – even though the average rate at the national level is about 1% or less. The Turkic Madjar and Argyn tribes (or clans) of Kazakhstan were found to possess the highest levels of G-M201 among any modern ethnic group. Amongst the Madjars, G1 was found at a rate of 87%. A separate study on the Argyns found that 71% of males belong to G1. In the Russian North Caucasus the Kabardinian and Ossetian populations are also notable for high rates of G-M201. Digora, North Ossetia has the highest known concentration of G in a single city, as 74% of the tested men were G. Haplogroup G is found as far east as northern China in small percentages where G can reach more substantial percentages in minority groups such as the Uyghurs.

In Turkey, the South Caucasus and Iran, haplogroup G reaches the highest percentage of national populations. Among Turkish males 11% of the population is G. In Iran, Haplogroup G reaches 13 to 15% of the population in various parts of the country. While it is found in percentages higher than 10% among the Bakhtiari, Talysh people, Gilaki, Mazandarani and Iranian Azeris, it is closer to 5% among the Iranian Arabs and in some large cities. Among the samples in the YHRD database from the southern Caucasus countries, 29% of the samples from Abazinia, 31% from Georgia, 18% from Azerbaijan and 11% from Armenia appear to be G samples.

In Europe west of the Black Sea, Haplogroup G is found at about 5% of the population on average throughout most of the continent. The concentration of G falls below this average in Scandinavia, the westernmost former Soviet republics and Poland, as well as in Iceland and the British Isles. There are seeming pockets of unusual concentrations within Europe. In Wales, a distinctive G2a3b1 type (DYS388=13 and DYS594=11) dominates there and pushes the G percentage of the population higher than in England.

In Corsica, haplogroup G reaches the highest frequency of any European region outside the Caucasus, accounting for 21.7% of all male haplogroups. In a study on the Tirol (Tyrol) region of western Austria, the percentage of G-M201 was found to be 11.3%, although frequencies can reach 40% or more within certain valleys; perhaps the most famous example is the ancient remains of the so-called "Iceman", Ötzi. In the northern and highland areas of the island of Sardinia off western Italy, G percentages reach 11% of the population in one study and reached 21% in the town of Tempio in another study. In the Greek island of Crete, approximately 7% to 11% of males belong to haplogroup G. In north-eastern Croatia, in the town of Osijek, G was found in 14% of the males. The city is on the banks of the river Drava, which notably begins in the Tirol/Tyrol region of the Alps, another haplogroup G focus area in Europe. Farther north, 8% of ethnic Hungarian males and 5.1% of ethnic Bohemian (Czech) males have been found to belong to Haplogroup G.

In South Asia, haplogroup G is rare. Some ethnic minorities possess it at considerable concentrations, including approximately 18% to 20% of Kalash, approximately 16% of Brahui, and approximately 11.5% of sampled Pashtun, all of whom native to the easternmost regions of the Iranian Plateau, while it only appears in about 3% of the general Pakistani population. The relatively high frequency of G2a2 among the Kalash is thought to have arisen due to Iranian or Caucasian influence via the Silk Road. In a study of 936 Indians, haplogroup G made up less than 1% of the sample and was completely absent in the tested north-western Indian population. In one study, about 6% of the samples from Sri Lanka and Malaysia were reported as haplogroup G, but none were found in the other coastal lands of the Indian Ocean or Pacific Ocean in Asia. G-M201 has been described as "almost absent" and "virtually absent" in India, with the G2a-P15 subclade in particular being considered to be negligible, indicating unique dispersal events from Western Asia.

In the Middle East, haplogroup G accounts for about 3% of the population in almost all areas.In Lebanon, however, G accounts for 6.5% of the population and in Iran to around 10%. Among the Druze mostly residents of Israel 10% were found to be haplogroup G.

Around 10% of Jewish males are Haplogroup G.

In Africa, haplogroup G is rarely found in sub-Saharan Africa or south of the horn of Africa among native populations. In Egypt, studies have provided information that pegs the G percentage there to be between 2% and 9%.Elizabeth T Wood, Daryn A Stover, Christopher Ehret et al., "Contrasting patterns of Y chromosome and mtDNA variation in Africa: evidence for sex-biased demographic processes," European Journal of Human Genetics (2005) 13, 867–876. (cf. Appendix A: Y Chromosome Haplotype Frequencies) 3% of North African Berbers were found to be haplogroup G. 2% of Arab Moroccans and 0.8% of Berber Moroccans were likewise found to be G.

In the Americas, the percentage of haplogroup G corresponds to the numbers of persons from Old World countries who emigrated. It is not found among Native Americans except where intermarriage with non-native persons has occurred. It has been found in Mexican mestizos.

G1 (M285 or M342)

Almost all haplogroup G1 persons have the value of 12 at short tandem repeat (STR) marker DYS392 and all will have the M285 or M342 SNP mutation which characterizes this group. This value of 12 is uncommon in other G categories other than G1.

subclades of G1a, G1a1, G1b exist.

The highest reported concentration of G1 and its subclades in a single country is in Iran, with next most frequent concentrations in neighboring countries to the west.

There are distinctive Ashkenazi Jewish and Kazakh subclades based on STR marker value combinations.

G2 (P287)

Men who belong to this group but are negative for all G2 subclades represent a small number of haplogroup G men. P287 was identified at the University of Arizona and became widely known in late 2007. Its identification caused considerable renaming of G categories.

G2a (P15)