Haplogroup H (Y-DNA)



In human genetics, Haplogroup H (M69) is a Y-chromosome haplogroup.

This haplogroup is found at a high frequency in India. It is generally rare outside of the Indian subcontinent but is common among the Roma people, particularly the H-M82 subgroup.

It is a branch of Haplogroup F, and is believed to have arisen in India between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago. Its probable site of introduction is India since it is concentrated there, but it may also have arisen in Iran or the Middle East. It seems to represent the main Y-haplogroup of the indigenous paleolithic inhabitants of India, because it is the most frequent Y-haplogroup of lower castes and tribal populations (25-35%), especially those of Dravidian origin. On the other hand, its presence in upper castes is quite rare (ca. 10%) (Cordaux et al. 2004, Sengupta et al. 2006, Thanseem et al. 2006).

Very low frequencies of the Haplogroup H are found among populations of Pakistan compared to the frequency of this haplogroup among Indian populations. A recent study of Y-chromosome variation among populations of Pakistan found Haplogroup H1-M52 Y-chromosomes in only 2.5% of a sample of the general Pakistani population (16 out of 638 individuals), and this haplogroup was also found at similar frequencies among ethnic Pashtuns (4/96 or 4.2%) and Burusho (4/97 or 4.1%). Surprisingly, Haplogroup H1-M52 was found at a much higher frequency among this study's sample of Kalash (9/44 or 20.5%) (Firasat et al. 2007).

Haplogroup H has been found very rarely outside of the Roma and populations of the Indian subcontinent, including approximately 6% (1 out of 17 individuals) of a sample of Kurds from Turkmenistan, 4% (2/53) of Iranians from Samarkand, 2% (1/56) of Uzbeks from Bukhara, 3% (2/70) of Uzbeks from Khorezm, 2% (1/63) of Uzbeks from the Fergana Valley, 4% (2/45) of Uzbeks from Samarkand, 12.5% (2/16) of Tajiks from Dushanbe, and 2% (1/41) of Uyghurs from Kazakhstan (Wells et al. 2001). The subclade H1a-M82 has also been found in 2.0% (3/150) of a sample of the population of Iran, but only in the southern parts of the country (Regueiro et al. 2006).