Native male founder lineages of America

RAMALLO V; MUZZIO M; SANTOS MR; MOTTI JMB; JURADO MEDINA, LS; BRAVI CM; BAILLIET G

Current Research in the Pleistocene

College Station, Texas

Año: 2010

8755-898X

Native American males carry a Y-chromosome lineage characterized by one base pair polymorphism (M3). All populations from Alaska to the Magellan?s Strait present this lineage as predominant, in frequencies higher than 60%. Initially, this lineage was considered the only ?founder?, but further information shows that M3 occurred in America, or Siberia shortly before migration to America and, for this reason, it is actually considered autochthonous. It belongs to Q haplogroup, shows derivate state for M242, M346, and M3 polymorphisms, and is named subhaplogroup Q1a3a. Another lineage from Q haplogroup, paragroup Q1a3*, entered America from Asia, shows derived states for M242 and M346 polymorphisms, and ancestral for M3. It is nowadays present in Eurasia, and for this reason it has been considered a ?founder lineage?. It is more frequent in North than in South America. Though found at low frequency, it has not been possible to rule out a genetic bottleneck occurrence during migration to South America. Probably, genetic drift was the phenomenon that caused their numerical restriction. The beginning of Q1a3a and Q* genetic differentiation has previously been dated in 11.000 and 14.000 YBP respectively by Maximum Parsimony methods.