R1b1c10 aka S28

R1b1c10 aka S28

John McEwan

27^th Oct 2006

Background

This SNP defines a subclade of R1b1c. Only sparse information about this SNP has been released due to commercial constraints. Ethnoancestry, announced the availability of this SNP on 13th December 2005. At the time of announcement they stated it had been observed twice in two samples of British origin. They also publicly thanked Gareth Henson in its development and referred to searching NCBI dbSNP, so it can be assumed that it is present, but uncharacterized, within that database. For details about its current position in the Y chromosome haplogroup tree and other information see www.isogg.org/tree.

Geographical occurrence

Currently on the R SNP table there are 13 S28+ individuals of 84 R1b1c people tested or 15% are derived for the SNP. The ancestral origin of those that are derived span locations across the entirety of Europe and British Isles, and encompassing: England (x4), Poland, Greece, France, Germany (x2), Switzerland, Italy, unknown, and Shetlands. The centre of gravity appears to be Europe. One of the principals of Ethnoancestry, David Faux, is S28+ and has been also undertaking considerable research genotyping as well. They have also found it in Southern Norway and in Wales. His full summary and hypotheses can be read at http://www.davidkfaux.org/dnaprofile2.html . In brief he ascribes S28+ to have appeared sometime during the LGM and was located in the Balkan Refugia. After the retreat of the ice, S28+ individuals traveled north to Germany via the Danube and into Poland. At a much later date they were associated with the La Tene culture and later still the Cimbri celts. Further work is required to clarify its exact origin and movement.

Below, I have tried to summarize the results by comparing all S28 tested individuals plus all other individuals that were derived for R subclades.

Table 1. Geographical distribution of S28 tested and other R1b1c derived individuals

Origin	-	+	Total	%
England	30	4	34	12
Europe	12	7	19	37
Ireland	47	0	47	0
Scotland	21	1	22	5
unknown	52	1	53	2
Wales	4	0	4	0
Total	166	13	179	7

The first is the high % of those tested in Europe in haplogroup R (defined as west of the Black Sea) that are S28+ and the second is that the level in England is one third of Europe, and it declines again in Scotland and Ireland. These results do have some biases, but they coincide with other evidence. The numbers publicly available strongly support a high prevalence in Europe.

Properties

Below are the S28 modal haplotype and the genetic distance for the first 37 markers compared to the mode of R1b and selected other haplotype clusters. The modal is actually rather close to R1b but there is a hint that some clusters particularly R1bSTR2, STR6 and maybe STR43 may be enriched for this group. The ASD for this group, calculated on the same basis as for the previous phase 3 analysis ( www.oocities.org/mcewanjc/p3asd.htm ) is 0.383 compared to R1b as a whole of 0.432 which suggests it is 89% of the age of R1b. The actual age estimate is 6541 years. In my opinion this is an underestimate and it probably approximates the age of the end of the last ice age.

Ysearch Database Configuration - DNA Results Comparison

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S28

R1b

R1a

R1bSTR2

R1bSTR6

R1bSTR19Irish

R1bSTR22Frisian

R1bSTR43

R1bSTR47Scots

Distance from reference:

Zero

One

Two

Three+

Genetic Distance

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2
8

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R
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S28

R1b

R1a

R1bSTR2

R1bSTR6

R1bSTR19Irish

R1bSTR22Frisian

R1bSTR43

R1bSTR47Scots

Related	Probably Related	Possibly Related
FTDNA's Interpreting Genetic Distance for 12 Markers
FTDNA's Interpreting Genetic Distance for 25 Markers
FTDNA's Interpreting Genetic Distance for 37 Markers

- Infinite allele mutation model is used
- Values on the diagonal indicate number of markers tested

Summary

S28 is a novel SNP that has been little studied to date that defines a subgroup of R1b1c. Although caution is required due to biased reporting of SNP testing it appears to be a reasonably frequent SNP within R1b its age suggests it occurred in the hunter-gatherer period after the last ice age. Its distribution strongly suggests it originated in Europe, the moderate frequency in England is consistent with perhaps one third of the Y chromosomes in the region having a post hunter-gatherer European origin.

Individual’s SNP status also cannot be easily predicted using STR haplotypes.

The results also suggest that this SNP clearly has genealogical uses. If any person was contemplating SNP testing within R1b this SNP should be included. However, what is required is around 3 times the number of individuals tested with emphasis on Europe to allow better geographical localization. If the results are as expected this SNP with have considerable archaeological value because it will allow questions about population flow and adoption of farming in the British Isles and Europe to be better addressed.