Haplogroup H
Haplogroup H is by far the most common European haplogroup, which at lower resolution displayed a rather uninformative frequency distribution within Europe. mtDNA haplogroup H in observed throughout Europe, the Caucasus, and the Near East.
Haplogroup H entered Europe from the Near East approximately 20,000-25,000 years ago, around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).
Some sub-clades of Haplogroup H re-expanded from an Iberian refugium when the glaciers retreated approximately 15,000 years ago.
Haplogroup H is subdivided into numerous subhaplogroups, with at least 15 of them (H1-H15) identifiable by characteristic mutations. Haplogroup H is distributed throughout the entire range of Caucasoid populations and which originated in the Near East approximately 25,000-30,000 years ago, also took part in this expansion, thus rendering it by far the most frequent (40%-60%) haplogroup in western Europe.
subhaplogroup H1 and subhaplogroup H3 display frequency peaks, centered in Iberia and surrounding areas, with distributions declining toward the northeast and southeast, a pattern extremely similar to that previously reported for mtDNA haplogroup V. Furthermore, the coalescence ages of H1 and H3 ( 11,000 years) are close to that previously reported for V.
These findings have major implications for the origin of Europeans, since they attest that the Franco-Cantabrian refuge area was indeed the source of late-glacial expansions of hunter-gatherers that repopulated much of Central and Northern Europe from 15,000 years ago.
See also
References
Achilli A, Rengo C, Magri C, Battaglia V, Olivieri A, Scozzari R, Cruciani F, Zeviani M, Briem E, Carelli V, Moral P, Dugoujon JM, Roostalu U, Loogvali EL, Kivisild T, Bandelt HJ, Richards M, Villems R, Santachiara-Benerecetti AS, Semino O, Torroni A. The molecular dissection of mtDNA haplogroup H confirms that the Franco-Cantabrian glacial refuge was a major source for the European gene pool. Am J Hum Genet. 2004 Nov;75(5):910-8. Epub 2004 Sep 20. PMID: 15382008