Haplogroup U (mtDNA)

In human mitochondrial genetics, haplogroup U is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. U subgroups are widely distributed across Eastern Europe, the Near East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Central Asia and South Asia.

Origins

Haplogroup U descends from a woman in the Haplogroup R (mtDNA) branch of the phylogenetic tree, who lived around 55,000 years ago.

Distribution

Haplogroup U is found in 15% of Indian caste and 8% of Indian tribal populations. Haplogroup U is found in approximately 11% of native Europeans and is held as the oldest maternal haplogroup found in that region. In a 2013 study, all but one of the ancient modern human sequences from Europe belonged to maternal haplogroup U, thus confirming previous findings that haplogroup U was the dominant type of Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in Europe before the spread of agriculture into Europe and the presence and the spread of the Indo-europeans in Western Europe.

Haplogroup U is subdivided into Haplogroups U1-U9. Haplogroup K is a subclade of U8. The old age has led to a wide distribution of the descendant subgroups across Western Eurasia, North Africa, and South Asia. Some subclades of U have a more specific geographic range.