Description
R1b-M73 is an ancient Central Asian branch of R1b that diverged long before the Yamnaya-associated M269 expansion. It is found at elevated frequencies among the Bashkirs of the southern Urals (~20–25%), as well as among Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Hazara, and Uyghurs at lower levels. M73's distribution marks a distinct pre-Bronze Age Central Asian presence of R1b that is entirely separate from the steppe pastoralist expansion that shaped Western European genetics. Some ancient DNA studies have identified M73-like lineages in Bronze Age Central Asian sites, suggesting it was a resident Central Asian lineage predating the major steppe migrations.
Interesting Fact
The Bashkirs of the southern Urals carry R1b-M73 at ~20–25% alongside equally high proportions of R1a, making them one of the few modern populations where both R1a and R1b are present at high and roughly equal frequencies — a unique genetic signature reflecting the southern Urals as a meeting point of eastern and western Eurasian lineages.
Distribution by Ethnicity
| Ethnic distribution | Region | Frequency | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bashkirs | Urals | n=250 | |
| Hazara | Central Asia (Afghanistan) | n=150 | |
| Kazakhs | Central Asia | n=500 | |
| Uzbeks | Central Asia | n=300 | |
| Uyghurs | Central Asia (Xinjiang) | n=200 | |
| Kyrgyz | Central Asia | n=200 |
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References
- Underhill et al. (2010) — Separating the post-Glacial coancestry of European and Asian Y chromosomes within haplogroup R1a. European Journal of Human Genetics 18, 479–484.
- Tambets et al. (2018) — Genes reveal traces of common recent demographic history for most of the Uralic-speaking populations. Genome Biology 19, 139.
- Mathieson et al. (2015) — Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians. Nature 528, 499–503.