Sub-Saharan Africa
Facts
More than a third of Yemen Hadramawt were of clear sub-Saharan origin. (12629598)
Other Arab populations carried approximately 10% lineages of sub-Saharan origin, whereas non-Arab Near Eastern populations, by contrast, carried few or no such lineages, suggesting that gene flow has been preferentially into Arab populations. (12629598)
Most of this gene flow probably occurred within the past approximately 2,500 years. (12629598)
However, there is little evidence for male-mediated gene flow from sub-Saharan Africa in Y-chromosome haplotypes in Arab populations, including the Hadramawt. (12629598)
Results are consistent with substantial migration from eastern Africa into Arabia, at least in part as a result of the Arab slave trade, and mainly female assimilation into the Arabian population as a result of miscegenation and manumission. (12629598)
A back migration from Asia
- Three main clusters of populations can be identified: northern, eastern, and sub-Saharan Africans. (11910562)
- Among sub-Saharan Africans, the Khoisan, the Pygmies, and the northern Cameroonians are clearly distinct from a tight cluster formed by the Niger-Congo-speaking populations from western, central western, and southern Africa. (11910562)
- Phylogeographic analyses suggest that a large component of the present Khoisan gene pool is eastern African in origin and that Asia was the source of a back migration to sub-Saharan Africa. Haplogroup IX Y chromosomes appear to have been involved in such a migration, the traces of which can now be observed mostly in northern Cameroon. (11910562)
References
Richards M, Rengo C, Cruciani F, Gratrix F, Wilson JF, Scozzari R, Macaulay V, Torroni A. Extensive female-mediated gene flow from sub-Saharan Africa into near eastern Arab populations. Am J Hum Genet. 2003 Apr;72(4):1058-64. PMID: 12629598
Cruciani F, Santolamazza P, Shen P, Macaulay V, Moral P, Olckers A, Modiano D, Holmes S, Destro-Bisol G, Coia V, Wallace DC, Oefner PJ, Torroni A, Cavalli-Sforza LL, Scozzari R, Underhill PA. A back migration from Asia to sub-Saharan Africa is supported by high-resolution analysis of human Y-chromosome haplotypes. Am J Hum Genet. 2002 May;70(5):1197-214. PMID: 11910562