mtDNA L in Europe and Spain

Here is a compilation from many different studies, for the frequencies of the maternal Sub-Saharan haplogroup mtDNA L,  for countries from all around  Europe. At the bottom, there is a compilation for the total of Spain. We'll see that spanish percentages are similar to other countries and/or regions of Europe. 

For some obscure reasons, on the Wikipedia articles  "mtDNA L in Europe", and  "African admixture in Europe" there is only  Iberia and Italy as european countries having mtDNA L, we will see here that this is not the case, there is in all corners of the continent. And I advise you if you dare to edit those articles,  you'll probably get blocked.


Slovaks              n = 2/207    0.97%      Malyarchuk et al.2006

Czechs              n = 1/279     0.36%      Malyarchuk et al., 2008

German-Danish  n = 1/161     0.62%      Richards et al. 1996
Germany            n = 1/335     0.30%      Achilli et al 2007
Germany            n = 4/333    1.20%      Pliss et al. 2005

Albania             n =  1/42      2.38%     Belledi et al. 2000
Bosnia             n=1/144        0.70%    Achilli et al 2007
Bulgaria           n=1/141        0.71%    Achilli et al 2007
Balkans          n= 1/556        0.18%    Regueiro et al. 2012 + King et al. 2011


Poland              n = 1/542     0.20%      Achilli et al 2007
Poland              n = 1/436     0.22%      Malyarchuk et al., 2002
Poles                n = 1/849     0.12%      Malyarchuk et al., 2008


British               n=1/100      1.00%      Piercy et al. 1993
England            n = 2/335     0.60%      Achilli et al 2007
England            n  = 1/142    0.70%     Helgason et al., 2001
Great Britain     n = 1/114     0.90 %     García et al. 2011
Scotland           n = 1/891     0.10 %     García et al. 2011


Finnish             n = 1/50       2.00%     Sajantila et al. 1995
Finland            n = 1/121     0.83%     Achilli et al 2007
Finns               n = 3/580     0.52%     Pliss et al. 2005


Norway          n = 1/74       1.40%     Passarino et al 2002
Norwegians    n = 2/397     0.50%      Pliss et al. 2005


Russia            n =  2/683     0.29%     Malyarchuk et al. 2008


France            n = 1/332      0.30%    Achilli et al 2007
France            n = 5/692      0.72%     Richards et al. 2007
France            n =  3/433     0.69%     García et al. 2011
France            n = 2/320      0.63%     Pliss et al. 2005
France                                 1.40%     Gónzalez et al. 2003


Switzerland      n=1/228        0.44%    Achilli et al 2007


Crete, Greece  n= 2/202       0.99%    Achilli et al 2007


Italy                n = 8/411      1.94%     Plaza et al. 2003,  Romano et al. 2003

NW Italy         n = 100        2.00%    Brisighelli et al. 2012

Sardinian         n = 2/69       2.90%     Di Rienzo and Wilson 1991
Sardinia          n =2/370       0.54%    Achilli et al 2007

Sicily               n= 1/106       0.94%     Cali et al. 2001
Sicily               n = 2/105      1.90%     Achilli et al 2007
Sicily              n = 3/465       0.65%    Plaza et al. 2003,  Romano et al. 2003
South Italy     n = 2/313        0.64%    Boattini et al. 2013 + Stefania Sarno et al. 2014

Tuscany          n= 6/322        1.86%    Achilli et al 2007
Marche (Italy) n=8/813         0.98%    Achilli et al 2007
Latium(Italy)    n=4/138        2.90%    Achilli et al 2007
Murlo (Italy)    n = 1/86       1.16%     Achilli et al 2007
Volterra (Italy) n =  3/114     2.63%    Achilli et al 2007
Casentino (Italy) n =  2/122  1.64%   Achilli et al 2007
Campania        n = 3/313      0.32%   Achilli et al 2007



Spain Total   n = 51 / 4.329     1.18%    From here :

Spain   n = 15/813   1.84%       Achilli et al 2007
Spain,  n =  0/686    0.00%       Rhouda 2006
Spain   n =  0/233    0.00%,      Lopez-Parra 2009
Spain   n =  1/251    0.40%       Plaza et al. 2003
Spain   n =  9/312    2.90%       Álvarez et al. 2007
Spain   n =  1/108    0.90%       Casas et al. 2006 *
Spain   n =  2/226    0.88%       Maca-Meyer et al. 2003
Spain   n = 15/742   2.02%      García et al. 2011
Spain (Basques)  n = 0/462      García et al. 2011
Spain, Zamora Province**  n =10/214    4.67%      Álvarez  et al. 2010
Spain, n = 8/496     1.61%       Pereira et al. 2005

Note that in the García et al. 2011 there is overlapping with other studies, that's why the total shown here  is not the same as the total you might get from the study.

- * Note that Casas et al. 2006 only considered L1-L2 sequences to be of sub-Saharan origin.
-** This study inlcudes only a sample from a small town of the province of Zamora, thus it is not very representative of the population of Spain, I prefer wider regions, anyways I have included them.
- Note about the subclade L3, some scholars don't consider it as Sub-Saharan (Maca-Meyer 2003 et al.) in her words :
""L3 is more related to Eurasian haplogroups than to the most divergent African clusters L1 and L2". L3 is the haplogroup from which all modern humans outside of Africa derive"

Total E-M81 in Spain

UPDATE (13/03/2012) : Added the samples from Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012, which includes Navarrese, Burgos (Castilla),  La Rioja and Cantabria.

Spanish Basques     n=2/55    3.6%    Cruciani 2004.
Basques                  n=1/45    2.2%    Underhill 2000. 
Basque Country      n=1/116  0.9%    Adams et al.
Basques                 n=1/168   0.6%    Capelli 2009 (Alonso et al. + Garcia et al)
Basques                  n=1/43    2.3%    Capelli 2009 from Bosch et al.
------------
Total Basques  6/427 = 1.4%


Navarra, Cinco Villas       n=0/42    0.0%       López-Parra 2009
Lapurdi, Navarra              n =0/66   0.0%       Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012
Central/Western Navarra  n = 1/60  1.7%       Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012
Northwestern Navarra     n = 0/51   0.0%       Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012
Valle Roncar, Navarra     n = 2/53   3.77%     Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012
 ------
Total Navarra :   3/272 = 1.10%


Pasiegos*               n=15/64     24%        Maca-Meyer 2003.
Lebaniegos             n=0/37       0.0%       Maca-Meyer 2003.
Other Cantabrians   n=6/36      16.7%      Maca-Meyer 2003.
Cantabria               n=17/161   13.0%      Brión et al. 2004
Cantabria               n=1/18        5.56%     Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012
--------
Total Cantabria      n=39/316 = 12.23%


La Rioja,   n = 0/54      0.0%                 Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012
 

Asturians             n=2/90       2.2%       Cruciani 2004.
Asturias              n=0/20       0.0%       Adams et al.   
-----------
Total Asturias      n=2/110 = 1.82%


Aragón                   n=3/34    8.8%     Adams et al.
Aragón, Jacetania   n=0/31    0.0%     López-Parra 2009
Northern Aragón    n =0/27   0.0%     Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012 
------------------
Aragón :  3/92  3.26 %
  

Galicia             n=2/19      10.5%    Flores et al.2004
Galicia             n=9/88      10.2%    Adams et al. 2008
Galicia             n=12/292    4.1%    Brión et al.2004
--------
Total Galicia    23/399= 5.76%


Valencia            n=2/31     6.5%       Flores et al.2004
Valencia            n=4/73     5.48%    Adams et al.
----------
Total Valencia   6/104 = 5.77%


Castille                  n=1/21     4.8%     Flores et al.2004
Burgos                  n =1/20    5.0%     Martínez-Cruz et al. 2012
Castilla Mancha     n=2/63     3.2%    Adams et al.
Castile NE            n=3/31      9.7%    Adams et al.
Castille NW          n=10/100 10.0%   Adams et al.
----------
Total Castilla   17/235 = 7.23%


Catalans            n=0/16     0.0%     Bosch et al.2001
Catalonia           n=1/80    1.25%   Adams et al.
Vall d'Arán         n=1/25    4.00%   López-Parra 2009
Cerdeña             n=0/37    0.00%   López-Parra 2009
Alt Urgell          n=0/34    0.00%   López-Parra 2009
-----------
Total Catalonia  2/192 = 1.04%


Extremadura         n=4/52   8.0%   Adams et al.
-----------

Majorca             n=2/62    3.22%    Adams et al.
Minorca             n=3/37    8.1%      Adams et al.
Ibiza                 n=0/54     0.0%      Adams et al.
----------
Balearic Islands : 5/153 = 3.27%


Southern Spaniards   n=1/62      1.6%     Scozzari 2001.
Huelva, Andalusia     n=5/167   2.99%    Ambrosio 2010.
Huelva, Andalusia     n=1/22      4.5%     Flores et al.2004
Seville, Andalusia     n=7/155     4.5%     Flores et al.2004
Cadiz, Andalusia      n=0/28       0.0%     Flores et al.2004
Cordoba, Andalusia  n=2/27      7.4%     Flores et al.2004
Malaga, Andalusia   n=3/26     11.5%     Flores et al.2004
Andalusia East         n=2/95      2.1%     Adams et al.
Andalusia West       n=10/73    13.7%    Adams et al.
Andalusians           n=2/37        5.4%     (Capelli 2009)  Bosch et al.
------------------
Total Andalusia :  33/692 = 4.77%

TOTAL SPAIN =   143/3.098 =  4.62 %

*without Pasiegos = 128/3034 = 4.22 %

Canarians were not included for obvious reasons.


Observations :

- We obtain a result of between 4 and 5%, slightly lower than that observed for Portugal (5.73%).

- The closest spanish region to the national average would be Andalusia (4.77%).

- As mentioned before, I reiterate the lack of correlation between islamic history in Iberia and these subclade frequencies, such that Andalusia (the place were Islamic religion lasted longer, specifically Western Andalusia) has less E-M81 than some northern regions such as Galicia, Cantabria, Valencia, Castille, which essentially means the presence of this subclade in Iberia has very little to do with the islamic period, in other words, the moors (in the ethnic sense)  had a very minoritary presence in Spain.

- Another obersvation I make, is the difference between Galicia and it's close neighbour Asturias, which has amongst the lowest frequency of the spanish communities.

- The lowest presence is in Catalonia, with aprox. 1%,  followed by Basques (1.4%) and the highest in Cantabria (12.75% with Pasiegos, 9.8% without Pasiegos).

- Obviously the samples of the various communities are still very small and unrepresentitative, so this percentages are only orientative.

- Compared to other nations, the closest country besides Portugal in terms of similar percentages, would be France, with 4.42 % (see here).

North-African marker in Andalusia

We find the following percentages for the typcial north-african (Berber) paternal marker, the Y-DNA haplogroup E-M81, obtained from different sources :

Southern Spaniards  n=1/62    1.6%    Scozzari 2001.
Huelva, Andalusia   n=5/167   2.99%  Ambrosio 2010.
Huelva, Andalusia   n=1/22      4.5%   Flores et al.2004
Seville, Andalusia  n=7/155     4.5%    Flores et al.2004
Cadiz, Andalusia    n=0/28      0.0%    Flores et al.2004
Cordoba, Andalusia  n=2/27   7.4%    Flores et al.2004
Malaga, Andalusia   n=3/26    11.5%   Flores et al.2004
Andalusia East      n=2/95       2.1%    Adams et al.
Andalusia West      n=10/73   13.7%   Adams et al.
-------------------------
Total South Spain :  31/655 = 4.73%

It is a similar result to percentages found in  French  (3/73 = 4.1% , Scozzari et al. 2001) or in regions of France ( 5.6% in Auvergne (5/89) and Île-de-France 5/91 = 5.5% ). This suggests that the presence of Islamic rule, which was longer in the South of Spain than anywhere else in Iberia, had very limited or no impact in the genetic pool of the population. We can conclude that the moorish population in Andalusia was extremely minoritary, the place were Islamic rule was stronger and longer. We can't also rule out the possibily that the presence of this marker, or part of it, could have entered in much earlier times (Neolithic or earlier), which would make the presence of moors in Al-Andalus even more insignificant. So, in other words, we can safely say the Islamic rule was just that, a military and religious rule, with no impact on the demographics and genetics of the authoctonous populations.


Ambrosio et al. 


The distribution of E-M81 haplogroup, a Berber marker, was found at a frequency of 3% in our sample. The distribution of M81 frequencies in Iberia seems to be not concordant with the regions where Islamic rule was most intense and long-lasting. The study also showed that most of M78 derived allele (6.6%) led to the V13* subhaplogroup. We also found the most basal and rare paragroup M78* and others with V12 and V65 mutations. The lineage defined by M34 mutation, which is quite frequent in Jews, was detected as well. Conclusions: The haplogroup E among Western Andalusians revealed a complex admixture of genetic markers from the Mediterranean space, with interesting signatures of populations from the Middle East and the Balkan Peninsula and a surprisingly low influence by Berber populations compared to other areas of the Iberian Peninsula.

Sub-Saharan admixture in the Mediterranean basin

González-Pérez et al. (2010) have analyzed populations from the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, with Central Europeans and West Africans as external references. In the Discussion section, they admit that the inflated "Alu/STR estimate might be artefactual" and favor the estimate based on the Alu  loci set alone because it's consistent with previous mtDNA, Y-chromosome and 500,000-SNP structure data.
According to the more accurate latter method, Sub-Saharan African admixture is ~13% in North Africa and "imperceptible" or noise (~ 0.01%) in Southern Europe: