Genetic studies of the Arabian Peninsula are scarce even though the region was the center of ancient trade routes and empires and may have been the southern corridor for the earliest human migration from Africa to Asia.
The Saudi Arabian group showed greatest similarity to other Arabian Peninsula populations (Bedouin from the Negev desert and Yemeni) and to Levantine populations.
Nearly all the main western Asia haplogroups were detected in the Saudi sample, including the rare haplogroup U9.
Saudi Arabs had only a minority sub-Saharan Africa component (7%), similar to the specific North-African contribution (5%). In addition, a small Indian influence (3%) was also detected.
The majority of the Saudi-Arab mitochondrial DNA lineages (85%) have a western Asia provenance. Although the still large confidence intervals, the coalescence and phylogeography of (preHV)1 haplogroup (accounting for 18 % of Saudi Arabian lineages) matches a Neolithic expansion in Saudi Arabia.
References
Abu-Amero KK, Gonzalez AM, Larruga JM, Bosley TM, Cabrera VM. Eurasian and African mitochondrial DNA influences in the Saudi Arabian population. BMC Evol Biol. 2007 Mar 1;7:32. PMID: 17331239