That Y-chromosome (part 3)

Since our Y-chromosome found its way out of Africa, a number of pathways were followed.  The Mediterranean Sea placed a coast line which provided a road to split that Y-chromosome east to west.  The northwestern coastal group soon ran into other geographic boundary's with the Black Sea being northwest, and Caspian Sea being northeast, and the Caucasus Mountains in between.  It was around this 550 mile mountainous system that our R-haplogroup is thought to have first appeared.  I suspect that the ice curtain that kept going up and down also had something to do with the next migration groups.  The R1-haplogroup scattered about leaving this Y-chromosome as far northeast as the slopes of the S. Ural mountains [Bashkirs]  and the Basque area of western Europe.

Central Europe seemed to be one place that the R1b - haplogroup settled around those salt mines that were so important for early human survival.    For our JONES surname things [genetically] took roots both in culture and language.  Expanding their horizons they moved about the Iberian peninsula [and other places] and finally found their way up St. George's channel to place their Y-chromosome among the islands.  For R1b1a - haplogroup [roughly 75% of us with the JONES surname ] the Welsh (Anglesey) at 89%, and Basque area (French, Spanish) at 88%, and the Turkic people (Bashkirs) were found with 86%. [confines of S.Ural mountains]

For those interested: 1) Irish = 82% , 2) Scots = 77%, 3) Spanish (Minorca) = 73% , 4) Dutch (Germanic west) = 70%.  What a deal...that same Y-chromosome is found among most of those with the JONES surname of Welsh descent.

That Y-Chromosome (part 2)

The runt of the litter it is as shown by the last post.  Its linear array of genetic information carries 78 genes.  Now if you can imagine pushing this little fellow from the top down, forcing it flat on a page of paper, you might get something like this:

The 78 genes line up along a physical structure [called a helix ] with the genetic code written along in units of three molecules [each molecule called a nucleotide] to make directions for its protein.  Now on the Y-chromosome when one of these nucleotides get replaced by mutation, this becomes an identifiable marker.  It is a "single"..."nucleotide"..."polymorphism" [change] which is labeled "SNP".

The markers that have become recognized as distinct changes to tag for various genetic groups have been discovered.  For the haplogroup R they are shown above.  Each marker has a specific physical location along the genome.  When this marker is found by DNA testing, it can identify a ethic group which has past on these changes.  For haplogroup R, this change is believed to have occurred some 30,000 years ago, and has been labeled M173.  The R1b marker is labeled M343, and the R1b1a2 marker is M269.  It is interesting that the M269 marker is believed to have occurred some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago which is also the time that the English Channel was formed.  At any rate, the following chart shows a big picture of the hapogroups as they have been thought to happen along the sands of time.

You can follow each haplogroup and its believed date of mutation.  This is for the Y-chromosome only...what a deal for this little runt.

Note: The drawing above does not show the exact physical location along the genome of each mutation.  It is drawn as an example.  The "Gene Tree Haplgroups" I created for my own understanding some years in the past.  Hopefully it will provide another way to visualize the chronology of this Y-chromosome.

Haplogroup Geography

The various haplogroups have a distinct geographic distribution.  The following figure shows this distribution in broad general terms as the "per cent" of the haplogroups for certain parts of the globe.

The highest per cent for the geographic area outlined at the top of the figure, is shown in blue marker.  For example, haplogroup E is found in approximately 61% of those tested from "Sub-Saharan" Africa.  This same haplogroup if found in 53% of those tested from "North Africa".  Haplogroup J is found in 44% of those tested from the "Middle East".  My "JONES" haplogroup R is found in 45% from "Europe", followed by 41% from "South Asia", and 31% from "Central Asia".  For Wales it is found in 84%!  Move over Wales, here comes the JONES surname. [Interestingly haplogroup Q is found in 95% of those coming to the American continent.]

The data is taken from my research notebook 225B (RN #225B) titled "Human DNA - Out of Africa".

Haplogroups to Haplotypes

Our human genome has been around a long time.  Since its beginning, any random, permanent change in the DNA molecule has been called a "mutation".  A change in one nucleotide base pair represents a "point mutation", and is referred to in genetic lingo as "single nucleotide polymorphism" or "SNP" which is pronounced "snip".  The Y-chromosome is the smallest of those DNA chains called chromosomes, and is least likely to undergo mutations among all 46. [ that male stubbornness I guess]  Once a single base pair mutates, it becomes a distinct marker for that chromosome.  This marker is then past along among the male descendants.  These markers have been identified, and have come to be called "haplogroups".   They have been labeled using the alphabet A thru T, with "haplogroup A" starting things off.   The following chart shows these haplogroups starting around 60,000 BC.

As time has progressed, these haplogroups have undergone additional genetic changes, at various additional sites, involving multiple nucleotide bases. [Whew...can you keep that straight]  These are again random chances but involve at least two base combinations next to one another (tandem) or at different (variable) sites along the DNA molecule.  These additional changes among the "haplogroups" are called "haplotypes".  The number of haplotypes vary, and those haplogroups with the highest number of haplotypes are shown in the figure above.

Haplogroup "E" has the highest number of haplotypes with 58.   This is followed by haplogroup "J" with 34, and haplogroup "O" with 31.  My JONES surname haplogroup "R" comes in forth with 29 haplotypes.

Now if you take the number of haplogroups and divide by the number of "1000 year of existence", you come up with a ratio of mutations per thousand years!   For example, if you take haplogroup "E" with its 58 haplotypes and divide by 50 [ the number 50,000/1000 = 50] you get a ratio of 1.16 mutations per 1000 years.  If you take my JONES haplogroup "R" [29 divided by 30,000/1000 ] you get a ratio of .967 per 1000 years.  However, if you take haplogroup "J" [ 34 divided by 25,000/1000] you get a ration of 1.36 mutations per 1000 years.  How about that...you get roughly 1 mutation per 1000 years for the haplogroups.  Haplogroups to haplotypes...part of our human family tree.

Data taken from "Y-Chromosome Phylogenetic Tree" from Genome Research and Family Tree DNA.

The Jones Surname : Fire Works Intended

The haplogroups that make up the JONES surname are shown to the right. [Based upon 275 individuals submitting their DNA to analysis.] A "big picture" to shown the relationship between the various haplogroups identified is shown. It is intended to represent proportionately the groups found by DNA Y-chromosome analysis. [SNPs = snips]

R1b represents 76%. Haplogroup I represents 10%. The remaining groups are all less than 5%.

Previous posts discuss these haplogroups. The surname JONES, fire works intended!

Jones Surname and Haplogroup E

Six per cent of the folks who had their DNA analyzed for the surname JONES were haplogroup E. [6% of the 275 individuals who made up the whole group] Originating in Central Africa, this haplogroup would most likely represent the African American population who share the surname JONES.

Those of haplogroup E, please identify your lineage and DNA that have the surname JONES. Would love to have the opportunity to connect the surname JONES and its history for all haplogroups.

Jones Surname and Haplogroup I

It is clear that those who share the JONES surname do not have a single "common ancestor". There is no "Adam Jones" who started at the beginning, and was the founding father of our surname.

It is also apparent that there are several haplogroups that share the surname JONES. My specific DNA was tested in a group that had at least 275 individuals who had an interest in the surname JONES. [Not sure that all 275 actually carried the surname.] These have been discussed in the post "Those Other Jones", May 20, 2011.

This post is to encourage those who share a common haplogroup to list their family, and identify their DNA lineage. Hopefully, this would allow communication between other JONES families that share this haplogroup.

Haplogroup I [Scandinavian] is the second most common [11%] among those 275 individuals sharing an interest in their DNA. All those "Vikings" I guess? Perhaps even "Norman"? [They started out Vikings!] Anyone of Haplogroup I, please identify yourself. Please use this post and the comment section to share your family connection to the JONES surname.

Those Other Jones

An additional 275 individuals were participating in the JONES surname DNA group that I had joined. Only two of these matched my 12 marker Panel! What in the world...at least the genealogy world? If we all came from a common ancestor [the first "Adam" Jones], why did not more of us match at the 12 marker testing?

The first question was what was the haplogroups that all these JONES belong? I abstracted the following :

Of the 275 individuals who had joined the Jones surname group, 235 had haplogroups listed. Of these, 209 [76%] were R1b1! [At least most of us shared a common haplogroup.]

The remaining haplogroups were: R1a = 2%, I = 11%, E = 6%, G = 3%, J = 2% and Q = 1/235. Thus, haplogroup R [R1b and R1a] made up 78% of us in the group. Haplogroup I [Scandinavian] were 11%. Haplogroup E were 6% [Central Africa]. Haplogroup G were 3% [Asia Minor]. Halogroup J were 2%. [Middle East]. Only one individual was haplogroup Q [Native American].

To compare this to Wales! [for haplogroup distribution.]

JONES - R1b 76 % I1 - 11% G - 3% E - 6% R1a - 2% J - 2%

WALES- R1b 82% I1 - 6% G - 4% E - 2% R1a - 2% J - 1.5% I2b - 1% T - 1%.

Wow, pretty good match! More to come.

Melting Pot and Launching Pad

The area around the Black Sea was both a melting pot and launching pad for many of the developing haplogroups. Central Asia has the highest number of haplogroups present today (total of 12), and provided a launching pad for the R haplogroup. The R haplogroup migrated northward [North Asia = 8%], southward [South Asia = 41%], and eastward [East Asia = 2%], while maintaining Central Asia at 31%. To the south was also the Middle East at 21%, and north Africa at 6%. [These percents represent the present haplogroup in each geographic area.]

For my JONES DNA it is the western migration that represents the movement of my Y-chromosome...to central Europe, most likely along the Danube River, to central Germany. Europe is presently represented by 45% of the R haplogroup. Around this same time R1 is thought to have emerged and somewhat later, R1b. [R1 at around 30,000years ago and R1b around 25,000 years ago.]

It is of interest that the Proto-Indo-European languages are traced to this Central Asia location. An article appearing in U.S. News and World Report, Nov.5, 1990 described how modern speech evolved from a single, ancient source. Anatolia is thought to have been this geographic location which is part of Central Asia. This was determined before most of the present DNA and genetic research had been accomplished. What a deal! Two different fields, linguists and genetics, some 10 years apart, coming to the same conclusions. [One of the first linguist was Sir William Jones, 1786!]

Now around 2000 B.C., the native Anatolian peoples are believed to have been the Hittites, Hurrians, and Mitannians. The Hittite Old Kingdom (ca. 1750 - 1550 B.C.) are believed to have sacked Babylon, ending the dynasty of Hammurabi. This Hittite Society has been termed "feudal". They pioneered construction of the light, horse-drawn chariot, with spoked wheels. This of course would require a lot of horses. They are also believed to have developed scale-armour, and one of the first people to accomplish the manipulation of iron ore. It is these folks that seem to be the root of my Celtic DNA.

Haplogroups to Haplotypes

As discussed in a previous post (Terms, Terms, and more Terms), a haplotype is defined by as series of changes among several nucleotides in a row. Since the changes occure side by side, they are called "Short Tandem Repeat" or STRs. At the biochemical level where these changes occur and have been identified, there has been applied a naming system. [Human Gene Nomenclature Committee] This naming system includes an address (locus); a DYS # (DNA, Y-chromosome, [unique] segment); and an "allele" value. [An allele is one side of the DNA double helix.]

The figure to the right is an addition to "The Gene Tree-Haplogroups", showing the number of haplotypes for each of the haplogroups. At the top, the number of haplotypes in each haplogroup is shown along the approximate time frame. At the bottom, the number of haplotypes are given under the haplogroup in which they are derived. Haplogroup E has the greatest number of haplotypes at 58! Haplogroup J is second in number of haplotypes (34), followed by haplogroup O (31) and haplogroup R (29). My JONES DNA belongs to haplogroup R. Certainly, it is an interest "Gene Tree"!