2012/03/27 by María Cerezo, Alessandro Achilli, Anna Olivieri +10 · 4 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Forensic and Genetic Research #Genetic diversity and population structure #Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research #Haplogroup #Biology #Mitochondrial DNA #Phylogeography #Range (aeronautics) #Evolutionary biology #Peninsula #mtDNA control region #Period (music) #Genetics #Phylogenetics #Haplotype #Gene #Ecology #Allele
paper · pdf · doi:10.1101/gr.134452.111
openalex publication_date 2012/03/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages of macro-haplogroup L (excluding the derived L3 branches M and N) represent the majority of the typical sub-Saharan mtDNA variability. In Europe, these mtDNAs account for <1% of the total but, when analyzed at the level of control region, they show no signals of having evolved within the European continent, an observation that is compatible with a recent arrival from the African continent. To further evaluate this issue, we analyzed 69 mitochondrial genomes belonging to various L sublineages from a wide range of European populations. Phylogeographic analyses showed that ~65% of the European L lineages most likely arrived in rather recent historical times, including the Romanization period, the Arab conquest of the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily, and during the period of the Atlantic slave trade. However, the remaining 35% of L mtDNAs form European-specific subclades, revealing that there was gene flow from sub-Saharan Africa toward Europe as early as 11,000 yr ago.