Description

Haplogroup C1d is one of the exclusive Native American subclades of C1, found primarily in North America. C1d has a more restricted distribution compared to C1b, with elevated frequencies in North American populations, particularly in groups from the Great Plains, Pacific Northwest, and subarctic regions. C1d appears to have diverged relatively recently compared to the initial peopling event and may represent a secondary dispersal or local diversification within North America following the initial colonization of the continent.

Interesting Fact

C1d has been detected in ancient DNA from pre-Columbian North American sites, including samples from the Pacific Northwest Coast culture. Its presence in multiple archaeological contexts across different time periods demonstrates the antiquity and continuity of this lineage in North American populations, providing a maternal genetic thread that connects ancient and modern Indigenous North Americans.

Distribution by Ethnicity

Ethnic distributionRegionFrequencySample
Northwest Coast peoplesNorth America (Pacific Northwest)
15%
n=100
Plains peoplesNorth America
10%
n=150
Subarctic peoplesNorth America
8%
n=120
Native Americans (average)Americas
4%
n=800

Tags

References

  1. Achilli et al. (2008) — The phylogeny of the four pan-American MtDNA haplogroups. PLOS ONE 3(3), e1764.
  2. Kemp et al. (2007) — Genetic continuity and change in aboriginal Aleut populations over 4,000 years. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 134(1), 82–89.