Haplogroup K (Y-DNA)

In human genetics, Haplogroup K (M9) is a Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup.

It first appeared approximately 40,000 years ago in Iran or southern Central Asia. Today, haplogroup K and its descendant haplogroups are the patrilineal ancestors of most of the people living in the Northern Hemisphere, including most Europeans, Asians, and Native Americans. Other lineages derived from Haplogroup K are found among Melanesian populations, indicating an ancient link between most Eurasians and some populations of Oceania.

This haplogroup is a descendant of Haplogroup F (M89). Its major descendant haplogroups are K2 (M70), L (M20), M (M4), NO (M214) (plus NO's descendants N and O), and P (M45) (plus P's descendants Q and R). Haplogroups K1, K3, K4, K5, K6, and K7 are found only at low frequency among various populations of Eurasia, Oceania, and northern Africa.

Its subgroup K2 (M70) is present at a low level throughout Africa, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and Southern Europe, and, at an even lower level, throughout Europe. A famous member of the K2 haplogroup is Thomas Jefferson; his Y-chromosomal complement received prominence through the Sally Hemings controversy. Haplogroup K2-M70 has been detected in 7.2% of men (10 of 139 individuals) in a sample of modern Iraqis and 10.4% (21/201) of Somalis, which is much higher than its frequency in other populations. K2-M70 individuals, at some later point, proceeded south to Africa. These chromosomes are seen in relatively high frequencies in Egypt, Oman, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Morocco and are especially prominent in the Fulbe (18% [Scozzari et al. 1997, 1999]), the highest concentration of this haplogroup found so far."

According to an article by N. Al-Zahery et al., the potentially paraphyletic haplogroup K*-M9(xK2, O, P) occurs at a fairly high frequency among the modern population of Turkey. However, the loci of the downstream mutations that define Haplogroup L and Haplogroup N were not tested in this study, and other studies have suggested that these two haplogroups might comprise a substantial minority of the Y-chromosome diversity among modern Anatolian populations, so it is possible that most or all of the reported K*-M9 Y-chromosomes might actually belong to Haplogroup L or Haplogroup N.

Subgroups
The subclades of Haplogroup K with their defining mutation, according to the 2006 ISOGG tree (abbreviated for clarity to a maximum of five steps away from the root of Haplogroup K):


 * K (M9) Typical of populations of northern Eurasia, eastern Eurasia, Melanesia, and the Americas, with a moderate distribution throughout Southwest Asia, northern Africa, and Oceania
 * K*
 * K1 (M353, M387) Found at a low frequency in the Solomon Islands and Fiji
 * K1*
 * K1a (SRY9138 (M177))
 * K2 (M70, M184, M193, M272) Found in a significant minority of Arabs, Ethiopians, Somalians, and Fulbe; also found at low frequency throughout Southwest Asia, Northern Africa, Southern Europe, and parts of India
 * K2*
 * K2a (M320)
 * K3 (M147)
 * K4 (P60)
 * K5 (M230) Typical of populations of the highlands of New Guinea; also found at lower frequencies in adjacent parts of Indonesia and Melanesia
 * K5*
 * K5a (M254)
 * K5a*
 * K5a1 (M226)
 * K6 (P79) Found in Melanesia
 * K7 (P117) Found in Melanesia
 * L (M11, M20, M22, M61, M185, M295) Typical of populations of Pakistan
 * L*
 * L1 (M27, M76) Typical of Dravidian castes of India and Sri Lanka, with a moderate distribution among Indo-Iranian populations of South Asia
 * L2 (M317) Found at low frequency in Central Asia, Southwest Asia, and Southern Europe
 * L2*
 * L2a (M274)
 * L2b (M349)
 * L3 (M357) Found frequently among Burusho and Pashtuns, with a moderate distribution among the general Pakistani population
 * L3*
 * L3a (PK3) Found among Kalash
 * M (M4, M5, M106, M186, M189, P35) Typical of Papuan peoples
 * M*
 * M1 (P34)
 * M1*
 * M1a (P51)
 * M2 (P87)
 * M2*
 * M2a (M104 (P22)) Typical of populations of the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville Island
 * M2a*
 * M2a1 (M16)
 * M2a2 (M83)
 * NO (M214)
 * NO*
 * N (LLY22g, M231)
 * N*
 * N1 (M128) Found at a low frequency among Manchu, Sibe, Manchurian Evenks, Koreans, northern Han Chinese, Buyei, and some Turkic peoples of Central Asia
 * N2 (P43) Typical of Northern Samoyedic peoples; also found at low to moderate frequency among some other Uralic peoples, Turkic peoples, Mongolic peoples, Tungusic peoples, and Eskimos
 * N2*
 * N2a (P63)
 * N3 (Tat (M46)) Typical of the Sakha and Uralic peoples, with a moderate distribution throughout North Eurasia
 * N3*
 * N3a (M178)
 * N3a*
 * N3a1 (P21)
 * O (M175)
 * O*
 * O1 (MSY2.2) Typical of Austronesians, southern Han Chinese, and Tai-Kadai peoples
 * O1*
 * O1a (M119)
 * O1a*
 * O1a1 (M101)
 * O1a2 (M50, M103, M110)
 * O2 (P31, M268)
 * O2*
 * O2a (M95) Typical of Austro-Asiatic peoples, Tai-Kadai peoples, Malays, Indonesians, and Malagasy, with a moderate distribution throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Central Asia
 * O2a*
 * O2a1 (M88, M111)
 * O2a2 (M297)
 * O2b (SRY465 (M176)) Typical of Koreans, Japanese, and Ryukyuans
 * O2b*
 * O2b1 (P49)
 * O3 (M122) Typical of populations of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Austronesian populations of Oceania, with a moderate distribution in Central Asia
 * O3*
 * O3a (M324)
 * O3a*
 * O3a1 (M121, DYS257)
 * O3a2 (M164)
 * O3a3 (LINE1, M159) Typical of Hmong-Mien peoples, with a moderate distribution throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia
 * O3a4 (M7)
 * O3a5 (M134) Typical of Sino-Tibetan peoples, with a moderate distribution throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia
 * O3a6 (M300)
 * O3a7 (M333)
 * P (92R7, M45, M74, (N12), P27)
 * P*
 * Q (M242, MEH2, P36)
 * Q*
 * Q1 (M120, N14 (M265)) Found at low frequency among Chinese, Koreans, Dungans, and Hazara
 * Q1*
 * Q1a (M378) Found at low frequency among samples of Hazara and Sindhis
 * Q2 (M25, M143) Found at low to moderate frequency among some populations of Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and Siberia
 * Q3 (M3) Typical of indigenous peoples of the Americas
 * Q3*
 * Q3a (M19) Found among some indigenous peoples of South America, such as the Ticuna and the Wayuu
 * Q3b (M194)
 * Q3c (M199)
 * Q4 (P48)
 * Q5 (M323) Found in a significant minority of Yemeni Jews
 * Q6 (M346) Found at low frequency in Pakistan and India
 * R (M207 (UTY2), M306 (S1), S4, S8, S9)
 * R*
 * R1 (M173)
 * R1*
 * R1a (SRY10831.2 (SRY1532))
 * R1a*
 * R1a1 (M17, M198) Typical of populations of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia, with a moderate distribution throughout Western Europe, Southwest Asia, and southern Siberia
 * R1b (M343) Typical of populations of Western Europe, with a moderate distribution throughout Eurasia and in parts of northern Africa
 * R1b*
 * R1b1 (P25)
 * R2 (M124) Typical of populations of South Asia, with a moderate distribution in Central Asia and the Caucasus