Scientific Papers

Listed by subject area, number of STRs (minimum 17), samples (minimum 20 J2 or high-coverage data), SNPs, short author/year citation (linked) and short citation of important findings. Exceptions for minimums are made for the Middle East or other interesting areas. Ancient J2 see own page.

More then one region/continent

  • Europe & South Asia, low-coverage Y-sequences from 1000 Genomes, 63 samples (42 J2a, 21 J2b), thousends of SNPs: Magoon et al. (preprint 2013) “SNP markers with names in the range Z6046 through Z8120 were identified and provisionally placed [in J2a …] ancient lineage is expected to be defined by Z6046 […] J2a-Z6055 could be interesting in future studies of the remaining J2a-L26* haplotype clusters […] proposed  sub-haplogroups defined  by  Z6082  and  Z7366. […] downstream is Z6065 etc. uniting one M47 sample […] J2b-M12 now sub-divides into three branches defined by M205, M241, and Z2453. […] J2b2b-Z2432 is a significant new clade […]“. See J2a tree.
  • 51 populations, 0.5 MB of Y-sequences, (33 J2), hundreds of SNPs: Lippold et al 2014 (Stoneking SK SNPs) – A datafile with the alleles at each of the NRY SNPs in each sample has been provided to the CEPH-HGDP and additionally is available from the authors. The NRY raw sequencing data are in the European Nucleotide Archive with the study accession number PRJEB4417 (sample accession numbers ERS333252-ERS333873).

Fertile Crescent, Levant, Middle East, Caucasus, Arabia, North Africa

  • Anatolia Central, 17 STRs, : Alakoc et al 2010 (paywall), “considerable diversity within these settlements“
  • Anatolian Greek & Provence/Corsica, 37 STRs, min. 23 samples: King et al 2011, “J2a is also common, attaining a frequency of 9.7% in Phokaia and 15.5% in Smyrna.“
  • Armenia, 17 STRs, 99 J2a, 6 J2b samples: Herrera et al 2011 (paywall), “striking prominence of haplogroups previously implicated with the Agricultural Revolution in the Near East, including the J2a-M410-, R1b1b1*-L23-, G2a-P15- and J1-M267-derived lineages.“
  • Cyprus, 17/23 STRs, 344 samples, Heraclides  et all 2017, “Greek Cypriot … The most frequent was haplogroup J2 (29.6%) … The most frequent major Y-haplogroup subclade in both GCy and TCy was J2a-M410 (23.8% and 20.3% among GCy and TCy, respectively …“
  • Lebanon & Iran, 19 STRs, ?/647? samples: Haber et al 2010, “Genetic organization was identified by geography and religion across Lebanon in the context of surrounding populations important in the expansions of the major sects of Lebanon, including Italy, Turkey, the Balkans, Syria, and Iran“
  • Levant, 19 STRs, ?/885? samples: El-Sibai et al 2009, “Haplogroup J2, in contrast, was present at its highest frequency in the Lebanese population (29.4%) and was significantly more frequent there, than in the remaining Levantine regions (p < 0.05) (Table  1). As previously reported (Zalloua et  al., 2008a), it decreases towards the west in North African countries and towards the east in the Arabian Peninsula (29.4% in Lebanon compared to 7.6% in Egypt and 8.3% in Kuwait; Fig.  2G and Table  1).“
  • Iran, ? STRs, ?/140 samples: Lashgary et al 2011 (paywall), “diversity among the Iranian religious groups […] Assyrians had elevated frequency (40%) of R*(xR1a) and low frequency (11%) of J.“
  • Iran/Azerbaijan, 17 STRs, ?/259 samples: Roewer et al 2009 (paywall), “5 Iranian and 1 Azerbaijani group“
  • Middle East and Europe, 10 STRs, 799 samples: Badro et al 2013, “While J2 has penetrated into Europe, the pattern of Y-chromosome diversity in Lebanon does not show the widespread affinities with Europe indicated by the mtDNA data.“

Mediterranean Europe, Balkans, Danube/Rhine, Iberia

  • Bulgaria, 17 STRs, 85 samples (54 J2a, 31 J2b), 8 SNPs: Karachanak et al. 2013, “two J-M172 sub-branches, namely J-M241 and J-M530, observed at a frequency of 3.8% and 2.4%, respectively“.
  • European Roma, 19 STRs (41 M67, 82 M92): Martínez-Cruz et al 2015,
  • Iberia, 19 STR, 88+10+43 samples, 1 SNP: Adams et al 2008 “… Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula“
  • Iberia Andalusia, 16+2 STRs, ?/417: Ambrosio et al 2010, “Haplogroup J occurs at 9.20% in Granada and 7.20% in Huelva. […] J2-M172[…] In our Andalusian samples, this lineage occurs at frequencies of 5–6%, whereas in other Iberian populations, J2 varies from 3% (in the Basque area) to 15% (in southern Portugal).“
  • Iberia Catalania, 17 STR, 68 Y-SNP, ~2500 samples, 50 Catalan surnames: Solé-Morata et al 2015
  • Iberia South, 17 STR, ? SNPs, 416 samples, surname clusters: Calderón et al 2015, “three surname cases with 3 occurrences each carrying haplogroups E-M81, I1-M253, and J2-M172 respectively. […] the J2-M172 seems to be related to Greek and Phoenicians colonies that were well established at least from the first millennium BC in the Peninsula, particularly in littoral Andalusia […] toponymic surname “vc” refers to a northern Andalusian town with a castle […] defended by Muslim garrisons in the 12th century. In this survey we have found three carriers of this surname with family origins in Granada territory (300 km far away from that town). The three Y-C harbored the J2a1 haplogroup with two of them sharing indeed 17 loci Y-STRs haplotype. These results suggest that the sampled “vc” males would be descendants of a member of that Muslim garrison, revealing then a clarifying case of Arab ancestry.“
  • Italy, 19 STRs, 120 samples, 5 SNPs: Boattini et al 2013 “two independent and parallel processes of Neolithisation … most of the Y-chromosomal diversity present in modern day Italians was originated from few common ancestors living during late Neolithic times and the Early Metal Ages.“
  • Italy, 17 STRs, 63 samples: Brisighelli et al. 2012, “Haplogroup J2 also revealed important regional differences; it added to 9% in the North, 37% in the Center, and 22% in the South, with statistically significant differences between …”
  • Italy Central, 17 STRs, 39 samples (24 J2a, 15 J2b), ? SNPs: Messina et al. 2015, “there was an evident genetic similarity between the Central Italian samples and Near Eastern populations mainly in the male genetic pool.”
  • Italy Sardinia, high-coverage Y-sequences, almost all 2013 samples, thousends of SNPs: Francalacci et al. 2015
    low-coverage Y-sequences, 97 samples (74 J2a, 23 J2b), thousends of SNPs    : Francalacci et al. 2013 (paywall, Dienekes). See J2 tree.
  • Italy South & Sicily, 17 STRs, 19 J2a, 3 J2b, 4 SNPs: Sarno et al. 2014, “presence of 4 PCS+ (“Phoenician Colonization Signal”) haplotypes [51][…] However, sub-lineages of haplogroup J2 have been also associated with the Neolithic colonization of mainland Greece, Crete and Southern Italy [52], and our TMRCA estimates for J2-subhaplogroups […] cannot exclude an earlier arrival of at least some of the J2 chromosomes in Sicily and Southern-Italy during Neolithic times.“
  • Italy South & Sicily, 17 STRs, 19 J2a, 46 J2b, 6 SNPs: Sarno et al. 2015,
  • Italy Northeast, 17 STRs, 73 samples (50 J2a, 23 J2b), 7 SNPs: Coia et al. 2013, “we observed that the genetic differentiation of Ladins and German speakers from Europeans is comparable or even greater to that observed for well known outliers like Sardinian and Basques.“

Asia Central, South and East

  • Afghan Hindu Kush, 39 STRs, 279 samples (262 J2a, 17 J2b), 10 SNPs: Di Cristofaro et al. 2013, “87 Pashtun, 142 Tajik, 77 Hazara, 74 Turkmen and 127 Uzbek obtained successful Y-chromosome analysis.”
  • India, 17 STRs, 158 samples, 11 SNPs: Singh et al 2016, 355 of 3023 males belonged to J2, no J*-M304 and J2*-M172, no J2a-M67 and J2a-M47, a lot of J2a-Z2396 (eq. PF5197) and also J2a-M68, a lot of J2b-M241 and some J2b-M205; J2a-M410 mainly NW border (Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc.; 17–50% in Toda, Chenchu, Banjara, Kamboj, Lohana, Kashmiri Muslims etc); J2b2-M241 concentrated in Eastern India (15–35% in Asur, Narikuravar, Pichakuntla, Shikari and Mondi, etc.).
  • Nepal/India, 12 STRs, ca. 40 samples: Fornarino et al 2009, “haplogroup J (Tharus 14.0%, Indians 5.8%), present only as J2, namely J2-M410* and J2-M241*. Whereas the latter haplogroup is shared by all Indian and Tharu samples, the J2-M410* was found in all Tharus but in only one Hindu of New Delhi, where one sample of its derivative J2-M68 was also present. If one considers the total frequency of this component in each sub-group, among Indians the highest value is observed in the Hindus of New Delhi (10%), and, among Tharus, in the group of Eastern Terai (30%)“

Europe North, East & Atlantic

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Rest of the World

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Ancient J/J2 DNA

See see own page