Eastern I1* and R1b1b

One of the benefits of a project geographic project like this one is that occasionally we stumble across an interesting haplotype or two.

As I write this, we have just over 90 Italian y-chromosomes in the in Italy DNA Project. This is larger than many academic samples and our data is generally much more complete: all of our y-DNA participants have at least 12 STR markers and most have 25 or more. Nearly half the y-DNA participants have been genotyped for haplogroup.

Out of this data are emerging a couple of particularly novel haplotypes that we are studying.

One is a novel type of R1b1b, exhibited by kit numbers 39685 and 67866 (JSKGT and 7MARF at ySearch). These two folks have a distinctive profile of DYS447=22 and DYS449=32, which I have not observed in any other R1b participant in any public database.

Another is a group from Haplogroup I that test positive for M170, M258, P19, and P38 but negative for other I SNPs. Thus, according to the current ISOGG Y-SNP Tree, they are either I*, I1*, I1b*, or I1b2*. None of these are very common, and some are completely unobserved.

Unfortunately, Family Tree DNA does not offer advanced SNPs to further diagnose their haplogroup assignment so I am hopeful that they will engage Ethnoancestry to test the relevant S-series SNP tests and especially S31.

These "upstream" I haplotypes are an interest to Ken Nordvedt, I know, and seem to reflect a strong Eastern European origin. The group has a clear modal (ysearch ID 8V4MA) but enough diversity that STR-based "rules of thumb" are not yet apparent.

As we learn more about these and other haplotypes we will go into more detail here. Needless to say, however, that we are already starting to realize some of the benefits of a rapidly-growing geographical project and that network-effect benefits are starting to accrue.


http://www.italydna.blogspot.com/2006/10/eastern-i1-and-r1b1b.html