Haplogroup C (Y-DNA) - Distribution

Distribution

The distribution of Haplogroup C-M130 is generally limited to populations of northern Asia, eastern Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. There is a tendency for Haplogroup C-M130 to appear as the minor component of Y-chromosome diversity among a population in which the major component is accounted for by subclades of Haplogroup K (M9). Haplogroup C-M130 also rarely co-occurs with Haplogroup D among populations of northern Eurasia.

Due to the tremendous age of this macro-haplogroup, numerous mutations have had time to accumulate on the background of a Haplogroup C-M130 Y-chromosome, and several regionally important subbranches of Haplogroup C-M130 have been identified. Haplogroup C-M217-M217 is probably the most important of these, as the geographic extent of its dispersal is without compare, stretching longitudinally from regional subgroups of the Eastern Europeans in Central Europe all the way to the Wayuu people in northern Colombia and northwest Venezuela, and latitudinally from the Evens and Koryaks of the Russian Far East and the Athabaskan peoples of Alaska and western Canada all the way to Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, and the Malay Archipelago. The highest frequencies of Haplogroup C-M217 are found among the populations of Mongolia and the Russian Far East, where it is generally the modal haplogroup. Haplogroup C-M217 is the only variety of Haplogroup C-M130 to be found among Native Americans, among whom it reaches its highest frequency in Na-Dené populations.

Other distinctive subbranches of Haplogroup C-M130 have been found to be specific to certain populations within restricted geographical territories, and even where these other branches are found, they tend to appear as a very low-frequency, minor component of the palette of Y-chromosome diversity within those territories. Haplogroup C-M8, an ancient but at present extremely rare lineage, is specific to the Japanese and Ryukyuan populations of Japan, among whom it occurs with a frequency of about 5% or less. Haplogroup C-M38 is found among certain local populations within Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia; among the populations of some islands of Polynesia, Haplogroup C-M38 has become the modal haplogroup, probably due to severe founder effects and genetic drift. Haplogroup C4 is the most common haplogroup among indigenous Australians, and it has not been found outside of that continent. Haplogroup C5 has been detected with low frequency in samples from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Arabia, and northern China.

Haplogroup C-RPS4Y(xC-M8, C-M217) Y-DNA has been found in 6/35 = 17% of a sample of Yao from Bama, Guangxi in south-central China, 4/35 = 11% of a sample of Hui and 2/70 = 3% of a pair of samples of Uyghur from northwestern China, and 3/45 = 7% of a sample of Hezhe and 1/26 = 4% of a sample of Ewenki from northeastern China. Haplogroup C-RPS4Y(xC-M8-M8, C-M38-M38, C-M217-M217) has been found in 48.5% (16/33) of a sample of Australian aboriginal people, 20% (12/60) of a sample of Yao, 6.1% (3/49) of a sample of Tujia, 5.9% (1/17) of a sample of Micronesians, 5.5% (3/55) of a sample of eastern Indonesians, 4.0% (1/25) of a sample of western Indonesians, 3.3% (3/91) of a sample of Sri Lankans, 3.1% (1/32) of a sample of Malays, 2.5% (10/405) of a sample of Indians, 2.2% (1/46) of a sample of Papua New Guineans, 1.7% (1/58) of a sample of Miao, and 1.5% (1/67) of a sample of Uyghurs. Haplogroup C-M216(xC-M8-M8, C-M38-M38, C-M217-M217, C4a-M210, C5-M356) has been found in 3.9% (3/77) of a sample of the general population of Kathmandu, Nepal.