Haplogroup D · Deep Relative Of E
Haplogroup D
The sister branch of haplogroup E within DE, today found in Tibet, Japan and the Andaman Islands, with rare deep African branches.
Approximate region of emergence
Africa or Southwest Asia; DE itself is most parsimoniously African
Estimated time depth
Roughly 55,000 to 75,000 years before present
Ancestral parent lineage
DE
Major descendant branches
D0 (D-A5580) · D1a1 (D-M15) · D1a2 (D-P99, Tibet) · D1b (D-M55, Japan) · D* (Andaman)
Overview
What this lineage represents
Haplogroup D (D-M174) and haplogroup E are the two branches of DE. That relationship is the reason DE is sometimes called the super-haplogroup that links Africa to the earliest Asian settlement.
Modern D is concentrated in Tibet, Japan and the Andaman Islands, three geographically isolated regions, a pattern usually read as the remnant of a much wider ancient distribution overwritten by later expansions.
Rare D0 lineages reported in Nigeria and among some Saudi and Syrian samples show that the branch never fully left Africa and complicate any simple Asia-only account of D.
Lineage tree
From parent lineage to modern descendants
Select any node to read its estimated age, parent lineage, regions and descendant branches.
Ancient distribution
Where early carriers are believed to have lived
The African D0 branch in Nigeria, together with the African distribution of E, makes an African origin for DE the simplest reading of the evidence. Ancient genomes from Japan and Tibet confirm D has been present in those regions since the Palaeolithic.
Migration
Origin → Expansion → Migration → Modern distribution
Origin
~75,000–65,000 ybp
DE splits
DE divides into D and E; E remains and diversifies in Africa while D moves east.
Expansion
~65,000–45,000 ybp
Across southern Asia
D carriers travel along the coastal corridor towards the Bay of Bengal and East Asia.
Migration
~45,000–20,000 ybp
Highlands and islands
Branches establish themselves on the Tibetan plateau, in the Japanese archipelago and on the Andaman Islands.
Modern
Last 10,000 years
Isolation
Later farming expansions replace D across most of mainland Asia, leaving the isolated pockets seen today.
Estimated pathways
Modern distribution
Where major branches are documented today
Tibet
D-P99
Majority paternal lineage on the plateau.
Japan
D-M55
Frequently observed, highest among Ainu populations.
Andaman Islands
D*
Nearly fixed among Onge and Jarawa.
West Africa
D0
Rare; documented in Nigeria.
Arabia and the Levant
D0, D1
Very low frequency.
Major subclades
Downstream branches
| Branch | Marker | Regions | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0 | D-A5580 | Nigeria | Basal African branch. |
| D1a1 | D-M15 | China, Central Asia | Central and East Asian branch. |
| D1a2 | D-P99 | Tibet | Tibetan branch. |
| D1b | D-M55 | Japan | Japanese branch. |
Populations
Frequently observed in
These are populations in which particular branches have been reported. Each of them carries several paternal lineages; the listed branches are not a definition of the group.
Onge
Andaman Islands
D*
Jarawa
Andaman Islands
D*
Ainu
Japan
D-M55
Tibetans
Tibetan plateau
D-P99, O
A haplogroup traces one unbroken father-to-son line. It says nothing about the rest of a person's ancestry, and it is not a marker of ethnicity or identity.
Research notes
Where the science is still unsettled
- The 2019 description of D0 in Nigeria reframed D as a lineage with African roots rather than a purely Asian one.
- Whether DE split inside Africa or shortly after the exit remains debated, though the African reading is currently favoured.
Citations for this lineage
- Haber, M. et al. (2019). A rare deep-rooting D0 African Y-chromosomal haplogroup and its implications for the expansion of modern humans out of Africa. Genetics
- Karafet, T. M. et al. (2008). New binary polymorphisms reshape and increase resolution of the human Y chromosomal haplogroup tree. Genome Research
- Poznik, G. D. et al. (2016). Punctuated bursts in human male demography inferred from 1,244 worldwide Y-chromosome sequences. Nature Genetics
Continue exploring
Ancient Lineage
Explore some of the deepest surviving branches of the human Y-chromosome tree.
BEarly African Lineage
Explore ancient paternal branches found among populations across Central, Eastern and Southern Africa.
CCoastal Aboriginal Lineage
One of the earliest lineages to leave Africa, carried along the southern coastal route to Arabia, South Asia, Australia and the Americas.
EThe African Macro-Lineage
Originated in Africa, yet the oldest indigenous paternal lineage in the Levant and Arabia as well; the most frequently observed paternal lineage in Africa and its diaspora; parent of both E1a and E1b.
E1aAfrican Expansion
A deep paternal lineage that traces an African origin through the Green Sahara, the Mediterranean world, and into the Sahel and West African empires.
E1bAfrica & Beyond
Explore a highly diversified lineage with branches distributed throughout Africa and neighbouring regions.
FRoot Of Most Non-African Lineages
The lineage from which G through T descend, accounting for the overwhelming majority of men outside Africa.