Y-chromosome polymorphisms in southern Arabia

Abstract

OF THE THESIS Y-CHROMOSOME POLYMORPHISMS IN SOUTHERN ARABIA by Alicia M. Cadenas Florida International University, 2006 Miami, Florida Professor Rene J. Herrera, Major Professor In order to explore south Arabia's role in the migratory episodes leaving Africa to Eurasia and back, high-resolution Y-chromosome analyses of males from the United Arab Emirates (164), Qatar (72) and Yemen (62) were performed. The distribution of specific haplogroups (E3bl-M35 and J1-M267) and their microsatellite-based age estimates in southern Arabia offer additional insight on their dissemination. With the exception of Yemen, southern Arabia displays high diversity in its Y-haplogroup substructure and share similarities with populations along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Oman, possibly serving as a coastal corridor for migrations. Elevated rates of consanguinity may have had an impact in Yemen and Qatar, which experience deficiencies in their ratios of observed to expected heterozygosity at 15 hypervariable autosomal STR loci. Higher diversity along the Gulf of Oman may be due to trade emanating from the kingdom of Oman involving East Africa, southern Pakistan and western India.