Y chromosome haplogroups of Kurdish people Part 1:

For quiet some time I tried to collect genetic data about Kurds from all available sources.

The probably most unknown source that I will present is a small scientific publication from Norway (2004). The publication can be found here. Among others, Stenersen et al extracted DNA from a total of 107 Iraqi Kurdish refugees in Norway and determined 9 Y-chromosomal STR loci, i.e. DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385a, DYS385b, and DYS388.  Y chromosome analysis is a common approach to analyze the paternal ancestry of a person, since the Y chromosome is the only autosomal DNA that is only passed from father to son.
Samples of Iraqi Kurds show a very high diversity of 0.9984 ('1' would be if all tested individuals are unique in their STR pattern), 99 different STR patterns (=haplotypes) in 107 individuals.

Two question will be asked:

1. What are the predicted haplogroups for these STR results of Kurds?


2. Why is the diversity so high? Is it because the haplotypes are randomly distributed within each predicted haplogroup or are star-like haplotype groups (Modal Haplotypes) detectable?

I will try to address both questions.

1.
The raw data of the Iraqi Kurds are here. Unfortunately, the raw data are just shown in a figure with bad resolution. I extracted the information as good as I could.
The number of analyzed STRs is low, so predictions of the haplogroup are less accurate. 

N	DYS19	DYS389I	DYS389II	DYS390	DYS391	DYS392	DYS393	DYS385a	DYS385b	DYS388
3	14	10	26	23	10	11	12	13	16	15
2	15	10	26	25	10	11	12	14	19	13
2	14	10	27	23	11	11	12	13	18	17
2	15	11	27	23	10	11	13	15	18	14
2	15	10	26	23	9	11	12	13	16	16
2	13	9	27	25	11	11	12	12	18	15
2	14	10	26	23	11	11	12	13	18	17
1	14	10	28	24	10	13	13	11	14	12
1	13	11	22	22	10	15	13	14	17	12
1	14	10	27	23	10	11	12	13	16	15
1	14	11	28	23	10	11	13	14	19	15
1	14	11	28	23	11	14	13	12	14	15
1	15	10	25	25	10	11	12	11	14	12
1	15	10	26	22	10	15	12	9	17	12
1	15	9	26	22	10	11	14	14	15	12
1	14	10	27	22	11	11	12	13	19	16
1	14	11	27	26	10	11	12	14	15	15
1	15	10	26	23	10	10	17	13	16	13
1	17	10	28	21	10	11	14	10	18	12
1	14	10	26	24	11	12	12	11	14	13
1	15	10	25	24	10	11	13	18	18	12
1	14	10	26	23	10	11	13	13	16	15
1	15	11	28	23	10	11	12	13	18	17
1	15	10	26	23	11	11	12	13	15	14
1	14	10	27	24	10	11	13	18	19	12
1	13	9	27	25	10	11	12	12	20	15
1	16	10	26	23	10	15	11	12	16	12
1	14	11	28	23	10	11	12	17	17	13
1	14	11	27	23	9	13	13	15	16	12
1	14	10	28	24	10	11	13	10	17	12
1	15	11	30	23	10	11	12	13	16	16
1	14	10	26	23	10	11	12	12	19	13
1	14	10	26	23	10	13	13	11	14	12
1	15	10	26	23	9	11	12	13	16	15
1	14	10	26	23	11	11	12	13	18	18
1	15	11	27	23	10	11	12	13	16	15
1	14	10	27	24	10	11	12	14	18	14
1	15	10	27	24	11	13	13	12	12	12
1	15	10	26	23	9	11	12	13	17	16
1	14	11	28	23	10	10	14	13	17	12
1	13	10	26	22	10	15	12	14	16	12
1	16	9	27	22	10	10	14	14	16	12
1	15	11	29	23	10	13	13	11	12	12
1	14	11	29	23	10	11	12	13	16	16
1	15	9	26	21	10	11	14	13	15	12
1	15	10	25	22	10	11	12	11	18	15
1	15	10	27	23	10	11	14	19	20	12
1	14	11	27	24	10	11	12	12	18	13
1	14	10	27	23	10	10	12	13	19	12
1	17	10	27	24	11	11	13	9	11	12
1	15	11	27	22	11	11	12	15	16	12
1	14	10	26	23	10	11	12	12	18	15
1	15	10	27	23	11	13	13	12	12	12
1	14	10	27	23	10	11	12	13	13	17
1	15	10	26	24	9	11	13	13	15	16
1	14	11	28	24	10	13	13	11	14	12
1	15	11	28	23	11	10	15	14	18	12
1	14	10	26	23	13	11	12	13	19	17
1	14	11	27	23	10	13	13	13	16	13
1	17	10	27	26	12	11	13	11	14	12
1	15	10	27	23	11	11	13	12	14	12
1	15	10	28	25	11	11	13	16	17	12
1	13	10	26	24	10	11	12	11	13	12
1	14	11	29	24	9	13	13	17	18	17
1	14	11	30	26	11	11	13	11	14	12
1	15	10	27	22	10	11	12	12	15	15
1	14	10	25	24	10	11	12	11	15	12
1	15	10	26	23	10	11	12	13	16	15
1	16	10	28	25	10	11	13	12	15	13
1	13	9	26	25	10	11	12	12	19	16
1	15	9	26	24	10	11	13	11	14	12
1	14	10	27	24	10	10	14	12	18	12
1	14	10	25	24	10	14	12	11	15	12
1	15	10	27	22	10	11	13	13	14	16
1	17	11	26	23	10	10	13	13	20	12
1	14	10	27	25	10	13	13	17	18	12
1	14	10	26	24	10	11	12	11	15	12
1	14	11	27	23	10	11	11	13	17	16
1	14	10	27	25	10	11	13	17	18	12
1	14	10	27	22	11	11	12	12	15	15
1	14	9	26	24	10	11	12	13	19	16
1	14	10	27	22	10	11	12	13	15	18
1	14	9	25	23	10	12	13	15	16	12
1	16	9	25	22	10	11	15	12	14	13
1	16	11	30	25	11	11	13	11	17	12
1	14	11	28	23	10	11	12	15	19	14
1	14	10	26	24	10	13	12	11	15	12
1	17	10	29	25	10	11	13	11	14	12
1	13	11	27	23	10	11	14	15	19	12
1	14	9	26	25	11	10	12	12	19	15
1	14	11	27	23	11	11	12	12	18	17
1	15	10	27	24	9	11	12	13	16	16
1	15	11	28	24	11	11	13	11	14	12
1	17	10	27	25	11	11	13	9	11	12
1	13	11	29	24	11	11	15	14	16	12
1	14	9	25	24	11	14	12	11	14	12
1	13	11	27	22	10	13	13	13	14	12
1	15	11	27	24	10	11	12	11	15	12
1	14	10	28	24	10	11	12	13	14	15

Then I used Athey's Haplogroup predictor, sorted by the predicted haplogroups, summarized the data, and calculated the frequency of each haplogroup:

Haplogroup	N	%
E1b1	12	11%
G2a	9	8%
H	1	1%
I	4	4%
J1	21	20%
J2	27	25%
L	5	5%
Q	1	1%
R1a	11	10%
R1b	13	12%
T	3	3%
SUM	107	100%

The most frequent Y-chromosome haplogroups in this Kurdish data set (N=107) are J2, J1, R1b, E1b1, R1a, and G2a.

Welcome to my Blog!

Dear reader,
I decided to start a blog about Kurdish DNA results and implications for ancestry, admixture and health.
I hope you will like it. Wish me good luck!