Haplogroup R1b



In, Haplogroup R1b (M343) (previously called Hg1 and Eu18) is the most frequent  in.

Its frequency is highest in, especially in (and due to European emigration, in , , and ). In southern, the frequency of R1b is about 70%, and in parts of north and western , , , , , and , the frequency of R1b is greater than 90%.

in his book ' gives the populations associated with R1b the name of for a clan patriarch, much as he did for mitochondrial haplogroups in his work '. also deals with this population group in his book.

Subclades
R1b is a descendant of (M173). R1b is characterised by the presence of the M343 marker.
 * R1b  (M343)
 * R1b
 * R1b1  (P25)
 * R1b1
 * R1b1a  (M18)
 * R1b1b  (M73)
 * R1b1c  (M269, S3, S10, S13, S17)
 * R1b1c
 * R1b1c1  (M37)
 * R1b1c2  (M65)
 * R1b1c3  (M126)
 * R1b1c4  (M153)
 * R1b1c5  (M160)
 * R1b1c6  (SRY2627 (M167))
 * R1b1c7  (M222)
 * R1b1c8  (P66)
 * R1b1c9  (S21)
 * R1b1c9
 * R1b1c9a  (L1 or S26)
 * R1b1c9b  (S29)
 * R1b1c10  (S28)
 * R1b1d  (M335)

R1b1c
Most of the present-day European males with the M343 marker also have the P25 and M269 markers. These markers define the R1b1c.

This subgroup probably originated in Central Asia/South Central Siberia, arriving from West Asia contemporaneous with (32,000 - 21,000 BC). Although the precise route of the M269 marker is not known, archeological evidence supports the view of the arrival of Aurignacian culture to Anatolia from Europe during the Upper Paleolithic rather than from the Iranian plateau. It appears to have entered prehistoric Europe mainly from the area of Ukraine/Belarus or Central Asia via the coasts of the  and the. It is considered widespread in Europe throughout the Paleolithic already before the. This culture is associated with the, the first to enter Europe. The Cro-Magnons were the first documented, making sophisticated. Famous sites include in,  in  and  in  (the largest open-air site in Europe).

The glaciation of the ice age intensified, and the continent became increasingly uninhabitable. The genetic diversity narrowed through s and s, as the population became limited to a few coastal refugia in Southern Europe and Asia Minor. The present-day population of R1b in Western Europe are believed to be the descendants of a refugium in the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain), where the R1b1c haplogroup may have achieved. As conditions eased with the in about 12,000 BC, descendants of this group migrated and eventually recolonised all of Western Europe, leading to the dominant position of R1b in variant degrees from  to, so evident in haplogroup maps.

An alternative belief is that R1b represents the Western or -speaking branch of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, although this remains uncertain.

A second R1b1c population, reflected in a somewhat different distribution of haplotypes of the more rapidly varying markers, appear to have survived alongside other haplogroups in Asia Minor, from where they spread out to repopulate Eastern Europe. However, they do not have the same dominance that R1b has in Western Europe. Instead the most common haplogroup in Eastern Europe is, often thought to be associated with a subsequent migration of s (or perhaps their ancestors) from the East.

Note that haplogroup R1b and haplogroup R1a first existed at very different times. The mutations that characterize haplogroup R1b occurred ~30,000 years bp, whereas the mutations that characterize haplogroup R1a occurred ~10,000 years bp.

(Note that in earlier literature the M269 marker, rather than M343, was used to define the R1b haplogroup. Then, for a time (from 2003 to 2005) what is now R1b1c was designated R1b3.  This shows how nomenclature can evolve as new markers are discovered and then investigated).

To date the most commonly reported clade is R1b1c*. This implies that the individual is negative (ancestral) for all known subclade markers. R1b1c* is found at highest frequency in Iberia and Ireland with a decreasing cline to the east where the R1b subclade markers S21 and S28 are seen at increasingly higher frequency (beginning in Holland and Eastern France respectively). Until new subclade markers emerge, the most parsimonious interpretation is that R1b1c* reflects Paleolithic hunter - gatherer populations that overwintered in the Franco - Cantabrian Refugium during the last Ice Ages and, while largely remaining in the immediate area, did fan out as far a Central Europe. At this point the only option to obtain information on geographic and possibly tribal data for R1b1c* is to employ haplotype analysis of the Y-STR (short tandem repeat) markers. Various groupings have been identified such as "Southwest Irish" and "Scots (Pictish)" but the modal values for these are no longer available in one spot on the Internet. The clustering analysis of Dr. John McEwan is an excellent starting point. Beyond this, further parsing of R1b1c* into subclades will be dependent on the success of commercial testing companies or academic researchers in locating new Y-SNPs.

The subclades R1b1c4 (M153) and R1b1c6 (SRY2627 (M167)) have been found to be typical of the ; these subclades are only rarely found among from other parts of Spain and are found sporadically among other European populations, which at one time was thought to indicate some sort of  or  among a rather genetically isolated population of proto-Basques. Commercial testing has shown M167 to occur in Southwest England and Ireland, and to a lesser extent in Scotland. This haplogroup has also been reported from France (although a sampling bias may be at "fault" since relatively few French samples have been tested), and as far east as Germany. One problem that is critical to the understanding of the origin of R1b in Europe but which has been overlooked by popularizers of various theories is that the R1b frequency peak found in the Basque Country, Pyrenees, and southwestern France actually overlaps a zone of extremely decreased diversity of R1b-associated STR haplotypes.

The subclade R1b1c7 (M222), on the other hand, is associated with the and ; in this case, the relatively high frequency of this specific subclade among the population of certain counties in northwestern  may be due to positive social selection, as R1b1c7-M222 is believed to have been the Y-chromosome haplogroup of the kings of the  clan of ancient Ireland.

The R1b1c9 (S21) subclade, although recently discovered by EthnoAncestry, appears to be the most common downstream marker from R1b1c appearing in over 35% of those tested. This group has a maximum in (the Netherlands) and, in general, is the predominant R1b haplogroup. It may have originated towards the end of the last ice age, or perhaps more or less 7000 BC, possibly in the northern European mainland. The exact technical definition of the SNP was not initially released for commercial reasons, but the same marker was subsequently independently identified (as their "U106") by Sims et al (2007).

The R1b1c9a subclade is defined by the L1/S26 SNP and is downsteam of S21. It occurs in less than a half a percent of R1b males, mainly with roots in the south and east of England and in Germany. L1 was first discovered by Family Tree DNA, then confirmed and named S26 by EthnoAncestry. L1/S26 is located in the flanking region of DYS439, and when it occurs, it inhibits the FTDNA primers from binding, thus producing an apparent null allele or "null439". FTDNA displays null alleles at DYS439 with a  Blue 12  on public pages, and with a  Blue asterisk  beside 439 on personal results pages. Other testing companies do report detecting null 439s. For further information, see the null439 project at.

The R1b1c9b subclade is defined by S29 and is downsteam of S21. It was discovered by EthnoAncestry, and has to date been found primarily in southern England (although this may reflect a sampling bias). Recent findings show that it also occurs in Germany in the region previously inhabited by the Saxons. Further studies will serve to ascertain whether this is a native Briton marker, or Continental and having arrived in England with the Anglo - Saxons in the 5th Century.

The R1b1c10 (S28) subclade's discovery was announced in 2005 by EthnoAncestry. Although sample sizes are relatively small, it appears to reach a maximum in  and. Ethnoancestry's commercial and research branches have shown that S28 is found from Greece westward to the in France. It appears to follow the distribution of the Celtic peoples. One branch appears to have moved north to (as the  /  nation / tribe) and southeastern Norway possibly during the Bronze Age. To date all findings in Britain are only from locations known to be settled by the Norse (e.g., Orkney) and Danes (e.g., English Danelaw) probably during Viking times. The percentages here are much less than found in the Alps. It has yet to be found anywhere in Ireland or Spain. Northern Italy seems to be a meeting place for both S21 and S28. Like S21, S28's specifications were not initially officially published by EthnoAncestry against their previous assertations that data would be publicly published; but again the marker was subsequently identified independently (as their "U152") by Sims et al (2007). 

The newest Y-SNP to surface is S68, which was reported by EthnoAncestry in 2007. It was originally considered to be what was once referred to as a "private SNP" and by EthnoAncestry as a "Family SNP", but was recently seen in someone from another part of Europe, and with a different surname. It is only with continued research that the time depth of these markers can be estimated. At present S68 has been seen in an individual from Scotland and another from Sweden. EthnoAncestry has determined that this subclade (tentatively identified as R1b1c11) is unlikely to be found in much more than 2% of the R1b population and is thus not considered a polymorphism.

Other subclades
Populations characterised as R1b1a (M18), R1b1b (M73), and R1b1d (M335), with those mutually exclusive distinctive markers but no M269 have been found, in, Eurasia, and Anatolia respectively. It is presumed that these are descendants of R1b1 populations which found other refuges from the ice.

An apparent R1b1* population has been found among the of Northern  in west central Africa. 

Modal haplotypes
Within the R1b haplogroup are modal haplotypes. One of the best-characterized of these haplotypes is the  (AMH). This haplotype reaches the highest frequencies in the Iberian Peninsula and in the. In the it reaches 33% in.

There also exists a haplotype of R1b with the DYS393=12 which is known in the literature as Haplotype 35, or ht35, as opposed to the AMH which is known as haplotype 15. They can be found in high numbers in Southeastern Europe and Western Asia. The members of this haplotype are thought to be descended from early R1b's who found shelter in Anatolia during the instead of in Iberia. They can be found in high numbers in the and  with smaller numbers throughout the Middle East, in Jewish populations, in Southeastern Europe, and in the Caucasus Mountains. There is also a sizable pocket of ht35 in populations in western China, which is thought to be a remnant of the Tocharians, an Indo-European speaking people that inhabited the Tarim Basin in Central Asia until they were later absorbed by various Turkic peoples. Ht35 is also present in Britain in areas that were found to have a high concentration of Haplogroup J, suggesting they arrived together, perhaps through Roman soldiers. For further information and different subgroups of ht35, see.


 * R1b Modal Haplotype. Ysearch 55GU9
 * R1b Modal Ysearch C7BED
 * R1b (NW Irish) Modal Ysearch M5UKQ
 * Comparison

Niall of the Nine Hostages
In 2006, a subgroup of R1b common among people of Irish patrilineal descent was identified as the probable haplotype of many within the septs associated with, an Irish king in the Dark Ages. SNP testing has shown that the cluster of haplotypes purported to be associated with the patrilineal descendants of the Uí Néill clan displays the M222 mutation that defines Haplogroup R1b1c7.

Technical specification of mutation
The technical details of M343 are:


 * Nucleotide change: C to A
 * Position (base pair): 402
 * Total size (base pairs): 424
 * Forward 5′→ 3′: tttaacctcctccagctctgca
 * Reverse 5′→ 3′: acccccacatatctccagg

This refers to a particular 424 fragment of DNA that the  produces when one uses the two "primer" strands listed.