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Description

JT is the ancestral haplogroup of mitochondrial haplogroups J and T, two of the most common maternal lineages in Europe and the Near East. Both J and T were carried into Europe primarily by Neolithic farmers expanding from Anatolia beginning approximately 9,000 years ago, and are therefore associated with the spread of agriculture across the continent. J is particularly associated with the expansion of Neolithic and later Chalcolithic populations, while T has a broader distribution across Europe and the Near East. Together, J and T account for roughly 15–20% of modern European maternal lineages and remain more frequent in Southern and Central Europe than in Northern Europe, where pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherer lineages (U5 in particular) persist at higher levels.

Interesting Fact

Both J and T show markedly elevated frequencies in populations linked to the Neolithic agricultural expansion from Anatolia into Europe, and ancient DNA studies confirm they were rare or absent in pre-Neolithic European hunter-gatherers — making JT one of the clearest examples of how the agricultural revolution changed not only cultures and technologies but the very maternal gene pools of entire continents.

Distribution by Ethnicity

Ethnic distribution Region Frequency Sample
Near Easterners Near East
22%
—
Europeans (average) Europe
18%
—
South Asians South Asia
9%
—

Tags

mtDNAEuropeNear EastNeolithicAgricultureMaternal lineage

References

  1. Soares et al. (2010) — The archaeogenetics of Europe. Current Biology 20(4), R174–R183.
  2. Haak et al. (2010) — Ancient DNA from European early Neolithic farmers reveals their Near Eastern affinities. PLOS Biology 8(11), e1000536.
  3. Bramanti et al. (2009) — Genetic discontinuity between local hunter-gatherers and central Europe's first farmers. Science 326(5949), 137–140.