Talk:Haplogroup K (Y-DNA)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Human Genetic History, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of genetic genealogy, genetics-based population history, and associated theory and methods. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Molecular and Cellular Biology WikiProject
MCB Portal
This article is within the scope of the Molecular and Cellular Biology WikiProject. To participate, visit the WikiProject for more information. The WikiProject's current monthly collaboration is focused on improving Restriction enzyme.
Start This article has been rated as start-Class on the assessment scale.
Low This article is on a subject of low-importance within molecular and cellular biology.

Article Grading: The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.

In their respective entries, both haplogroup K and haplogroup R1b are being listed as the most common in Europe.

That is because Haplogroup R1b (and the whole of Haplogroup R for that matter) is derived from Haplogroup K. Haplogroup R1b is ultimately a subclade, what one might call a subtype or a descendant, of Haplogroup K. Thus, it is technically not incorrect (albeit somewhat imprecise) to describe any Y-chromosome that belongs to Haplogroup R1b as also belonging to Haplogroup K, because Haplogroup K subsumes or "contains" all of Haplogroup R1b. It is correct to say that Haplogroup R1b is the most common Y-chromosome haplogroup among modern Europeans and European-Americans, but it is also correct (though imprecise) to say that Haplogroup K is the most common Y-chromosome haplogroup among modern Europeans and European-Americans.
The reverse, however, would not be true: Haplogroup K is not a subclade of Haplogroup R1b, so one could not say that Haplogroup R1b is the most common Y-chromosome haplogroup among the Han Chinese, for example, although another subclade of Haplogroup K, namely Haplogroup O3, actually is the most common haplogroup among the Han Chinese.
If one desires to find the genetic equivalent of the mathematician's least common denominator between Europeans and Han Chinese, then one has to trace the genealogy as far back as the progenitor of Haplogroup K: the majority of both Europeans and Han Chinese are direct patrilineal descendants of the prehistoric male ancestor in whose sperm the M9 mutation that defines Haplogroup K occurred. The question of the region in which this prehistoric progenitor of Haplogroup K lived is still a matter of debate among scientists, but the general area that includes Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North India, and southern Central Asia seems to be the best candidate according to current knowledge. Some have proposed the alternative hypothesis of an expansion of Haplogroup K and its derivatives out of the region of Southeast Asia and Melanesia (or more generally, Sundaland) based on the extreme diversity of Haplogroup K Y-chromosomes in that region.
Please consult the ISOGG's 2006 phylogenetic tree of human Y-chromosomes for more information and a graphical illustration of the phylogenetic relationships between the various haplogroups. Ebizur 11:14, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] K2 haplogroup, Thomas Jefferson

Interesting that Thomas Jefferson was confirmed to be Y haplogroup K2. Isn't it exceedingly rare amongst English from whence his most recent ancestors were? It seems today that the most dense populations of K2 are among Iraqis? Are there any other famous individuals whose haplogroup is known? Nagelfar 18:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Gazzzz 22:47, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 2006 ISOGG to 2008 ISOGG

The Y-tree on this page is out of date. Nagelfar (talk) 22:00, 25 May 2008 (UTC)