French People - Genetics

Genetics

France has been influenced by the many different human migrations that wide-crossed Europe over time. Prehistoric and Neolithic population movements could have influenced the genetic diversity of this country. A recent study in 2009 analysed 555 French individuals from 7 different regions in mainland France and found the following Y-DNA Haplogroups. The five main haplogroups are R1 (63.41%), E (11.41%) (traced mostly in the Paris area), I (8.88%), J (7.97%) and G (5.16%). R1b (particularly R1b1b2) was found to be the most dominant Y chromosomal lineage in France, covering about 60% of the Y chromosomal lineages. The high frequency of this haplogroup is typical in all West European populations. Haplogroups I and G are also characteristic markers for many different West European populations. Haplogroups J and E1b1b (M35, M78, M81 and M34) consist of lineages with differential distribution within Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Only adults with French surname were analyzed by the study.

The province of southern France was colonized by the Ancient Greeks who introduced viniculture into Provence and founded the cities of Marseilles and Nice, during the Archaic and Classical Eras. A recent study in 2011 analyzed 51 southern French individuals from Provence in southern mainland France and 89 Anatolian Greek subjects whose ancestry derives from Smyrna and Asia Minor Phokaia, the ancestral embarkation port to the 6th century BCE ancient Greek colonies of Massalia (Marseilles) and Alalie (Aleria, Corsica). The admixture analysis estimated in the study found that 17% of the Y-chromosomes of Provence may be attributed to Greek colonization. The study also concluded that "Estimates of colonial Greek vs. indigenous Celto-Ligurian demography predict a maximum of a 10% Greek contribution, suggesting a Greek male elite-dominant input into the Iron Age Provence population." This evidence supports the persistence of the gene pool of the Ancient Greeks among the modern southern French.