Haplogroup H5 (mtDNA)

In human mitochondrial genetics, Haplogroup H5 is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup descended from Haplogroup H (mtDNA). H5 is defined by T16304C in the HVR1 region and 456 in the HVR2 region.

Origin

H5 has been dated to around 11,500 BP (9500 BC). It appears to be most frequent and diverse in the Western Caucasus, so an origin there has been suggested, while its subclade H5a appears European. However samples of mtDNA with T16304C in the HVR1 region have been found in four individuals of around 6800 BC from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Tell Halula, Syria, suggesting that H5 may have arrived in the Caucasus with farmers from the Near East.

Distribution

H5* is present at low levels (1%–3%) throughout the Near East. H5* is most frequent in the Caucasus, forming over 20% of the haplogroup H gene pool in Karatchaians-Balkarians and Georgians – people living in the immediate vicinity of the two sides of the High Caucasus. It does not appear to be present in Central Asia. In Europe estimated levels vary from a total absence in Volga-Uralic Finno-Ugrians to 8% in Slovaks and French. However the level generally averages around 5%. Although some research gives the highest levels of H5 concentration throughout Europe as being in Wales. (8.5%)

Haplogroup H (mtDNA)

In human mitochondrial genetics, haplogroup H is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup that likely originated in Southwest Asia 20,000-25,000 years before present.

Mitochondrial haplogroup H is a predominantly European haplogroup that originated outside of Europe before the last glacial maximum (LGM). It first expanded in the northern Near East and Southern Caucasus between 33,000 and 26,000 years ago, and later migrations from Iberia suggest it reached Europe before the Last Glacial Maximum. It has also spread to Siberia and inner Asia. Today, about 40% of all mitochondrial lineages in Europe are classified as haplogroup H.

Origin

Haplogroup H is a descendant of haplogroup HV. The Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS), which until recently was the human mitochondrial sequence to which all others were compared, belongs to haplogroup H2a2a1 (human mitochondrial sequences should now be compared with the ancestral Reconstructed Sapiens Reference Sequence (RSRS)). Several independent studies conclude that haplogroup H probably evolved in West Asia c. 25,000 years ago. It was carried to Europe by migrations c. 20-25,000 years ago, and spread with population of the southwest of the continent. Its arrival was roughly contemporary with the rise of the Gravettian culture. The spread of subclades H1, H3 and the sister haplogroup V reflect a second intra-European expansion from the Franco-Cantabrian region after the last glacial maximum, c. 13,000 years ago.