Haplogroup D
Distribution
Native Americans
Aleuts
Chukchi and Siberian Eskimos
Sireniki Eskimos in Chukotka
Facts
The sequence-divergence estimates for Haplogroup A, Haplogroup C, and Haplogroup D of Siberian and Native American populations indicate that the earliest inhabitants of Beringia possessed a limited number of founding mtDNA haplotypes and that the first humans expanded into the New World approximately 34,000 years before present (YBP). (9792876)
The phylogeny of haplogroup D complete sequences showed that (1) the D2 root sequence type originated among the latest inhabitants of Beringia and (2) the Aleut 8910A sublineage of D2 is a part of larger radiation of rooted D2, which gave rise to D2a (Na-Dene), D2b (Aleut), and D2c (Eskimo) sublineages.
The Aleuts are aboriginal inhabitants of the Aleutian archipelago, including Bering and Copper (Medny) Islands of the Commanders Islands. Unlike the Eskimos and Na-Dene, the Aleuts of the Commanders were founded by a single lineage of haplogroup D2, which had acquired the novel transversion mutation 8910A. The Aleuts seem to be the survivors of the inhabitants of the southern belt of the Bering Land Bridge that connected Chukotka/Kamchatka and Alaska during the end of the Ice Age.
Sireniki Eskimos in Chukotka belong to the Beringian-specific subhaplogroup D2.
The geographic specificity and remarkable intrinsic diversity of D2 lineages support the refugial hypothesis, which assumes that the founding population of Eskimo-Aleut originated in Beringan/southwestern Alaskan refugia during the early postglacial period, rather than having reached the shores of Alaska as the result of recent wave of migration from interior Siberia.
Subhaplogroups
subhaplogroup D1
subhaplogroup D2
subhaplogroup D3
subhaplogroup D4
- subhaplogroupD4b2b
- subhaplogroupD4a
subhaplogroupD5
References
Alexe G, Fuku N, Bilal E, Ueno H, Nishigaki Y, Fujita Y, Ito M, Arai Y, Hirose N, Bhanot G, Tanaka M. Enrichment of longevity phenotype in mtDNA haplogroups D4b2b, D4a, and D5 in the Japanese population. Hum Genet. 2007 May;121(3-4):347-56. PMID: 17308896
Kemp BM, Malhi RS, McDonough J, Bolnick DA, Eshleman JA, Rickards O, Martinez-Labarga C, Johnson JR, Lorenz JG, Dixon EJ, Fifield TE, Heaton TH, Worl R, Smith DG. Genetic analysis of early holocene skeletal remains from Alaska and its implications for the settlement of the Americas. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2007 Apr;132(4):605-21. PMID: 17243155
Derbeneva OA, Sukernik RI, Volodko NV, Hosseini SH, Lott MT, Wallace DC. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA diversity in the aleuts of the commander islands and its implications for the genetic history of beringia. Am J Hum Genet. 2002 Aug;71(2):415-21. PMID: 12082644
Silva WA Jr, Bonatto SL, Holanda AJ, Ribeiro-Dos-Santos AK, Paixao BM, Goldman GH, Abe-Sandes K, Rodriguez-Delfin L, Barbosa M, Paco-Larson ML, Petzl-Erler ML, Valente V, Santos SE, Zago MA. Mitochondrial genome diversity of Native Americans supports a single early entry of founder populations into America. Am J Hum Genet. 2002 Jul;71(1):187-92. PMID: 12022039
Bonatto SL, Salzano FM. Diversity and age of the four major mtDNA haplogroups, and their implications for the peopling of the New World. Am J Hum Genet. 1997 Dec;61(6):1413-23. PMID: 9399887