Description
Haplogroup D1 (CTS11577) is the principal surviving branch of Y-DNA haplogroup D, encompassing both the Tibetan/Himalayan lineage (D1a) and the Japanese Jomon lineage (D1b). D1 diverged from the broader D clade deep in the Upper Paleolithic and subsequently split into geographically distinct branches — one that settled the high-altitude Himalayan plateau and one that followed ancient routes into East Asia and ultimately Japan. The D1 lineage is remarkable for its antiquity and its restriction to a few isolated geographic pockets in modern populations.
Interesting Fact
D1 is one of the clearest genetic signatures of ancient human populations that predated the major Bronze Age expansions in Asia — both Tibetans and the Jomon people of Japan carry D1 as a marker of populations that occupied their respective regions long before the major agricultural migrations swept across East Asia.
Distribution by Ethnicity
| Ethnic distribution | Region | Frequency | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tibetans | High Asia (Tibet) | n=400 | |
| Sherpa | Nepal / Himalaya | n=150 | |
| Bhutanese | Himalaya | n=200 | |
| Japanese | East Asia | n=1000 |
Tags
References
- Shi et al. (2008) — Y chromosome evidence of earliest modern human settlement in East Asia and multiple origins of Tibetan and Japanese populations. BMC Biology 6, 45.