Haplogroup Q-M120

The Americas

One of the 1K Genomes samples, HG01944, from Peruvians in Lima, Peru belongs to Q-M120.^[2][3] Q-M120 is the other branch under Q-F746. It is best known as an East Asian branch of Q. This is intriguing; if it is not a result of post-colonial admixture, it will mark a fourth or fifth Q lineage in the Americas. The branch of Q-M120 including this sample has a calculated TMRCA of 5,000 to 7,000 years,^[2] meaning that it may be the result of a later pre-Columbian immigration from North or East Asia.

Grugni et al. (2019) found the presence of the Q-pre-M120 lineage, a precursor to Q-M120, among the Tsimshian people in Alaska.^[4]

Asia

Q-M120 is present in Eastern Asia and may trace its origin to East Asia.^[4][5][6] It has been found at low frequency in samples of Han Chinese,^[5][6] Dungans,^[7] Hmong Daw in Laos,^[8] Japanese,^[9] Dörwöd Kalmyks,^[10] Koreans,^[7] Mongols,^[11][12] Tibetans,^[6][13][14] Uygurs,^[15] and Vietnamese.^[2][3] It also has been found among Bhutanese,^[16] Murut people in Brunei,^[17] Tuvans,^[18] Nivkhs,^[19] Koryaks,^[19] Yukaghirs,^[19] and Azerbaijanis.^[2] Sengupta et al. (2006) reported finding Q-M120 in the HGDP sample of Pakistani Hazaras,^[20] but the Bayesian tree in Supplementary Figure 12 of Lippold et al. (2014) suggests that these HGDP Pakistani Hazara individuals more likely should belong to Q-L275, and that three members of the HGDP Naxi sample and one member of the HGDP Han sample should belong to Q-M120 instead.^[21] Di Cristofaro et al. (2013) tested the same sample of Pakistani Hazaras and reported that they belonged to the following Y-DNA haplogroups: 1/25 C-PK2/M386(xM407, M532), 9/25 C-M401, 1/25 I-M223, 1/25 J-M530, 2/25 O-M122(xM134), 1/25 Q-M242(xM120, M25, M346, M378), 1/25 Q-M378, 1/25 R-M124, 8/25 R-M478/M73.^[12]

According to a 2019 study, Q-M120 can be found in high concentrations in the northern and eastern regions of China. To a lesser extent, it can be found in North Korea, South Korea and northern Philippines.^[22]

Europe

Y-DNA Q-M242 subclades

Y-DNA backbone tree