For people who have tested and are assigned the maternal haplogroup U5a or who are believed to have had that maternal haplogroup based on descendants tested.
- Coding mutation 14793
- HVR mutations 16256, 16192
Among the oldest mtDNA haplogroups found in European remains of Homo sapiens is U5. The age of U5 is estimated at 50,000 but could be as old as 60,500 years. Approximately 11% of total Europeans and 10% of European-Americans are in haplogroup U5.
The presence of haplogroup U5 in Europe pre-dates the expansion of agriculture in Europe. In his popular book The Seven Daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes calculated that this group arose 45,000-50,000 years ago in Delphi, Greece and named the originator of haplogroup U5 Ursula. However the details related to location and age are speculative. Barbujani and Bertorelle estimate the age of haplogroup U5 as about 52,000 years ago, being the oldest subclade of haplogroup U. Thus, the name 'Ursula' could be applied to the entirety of haplogroup U, as well as U5.
U5 has been found in human remains dating from the Mesolithic in England, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Russia.
Haplogroup U5 and its subclades U5a and U5b form the highest population concentrations in the far north, in Sami, Finns, and Estonians, but it is spread widely at lower levels throughout Europe. This distribution, and the age of the haplogroup, indicate individuals from this haplogroup were part of the initial expansion tracking the retreat of ice sheets from Europe ~10kya.
Haplogroup U5 is found also in small frequencies and at much lower diversity in the Near East and parts of Africa, suggesting back-migration of people from northern Europe to the south.
Mitochondrial haplogroup U5a has also been associated with HIV infected individuals displaying accelerated progression to AIDS and death.
- U5 has polymorphisms in the locations of 3197 9477 13617 16192 16270
- U5a arose around 20000 years ago and have polymorphisms in 14793 16256 ( + U5 polymorphisms).
Subclades of U
- U (mtDNA)
mt-haplogroup U5a is a subgroup of U5.
- Cheddar Man, a nickname for the ancient human remains found in Cheddar Gorge. His approximate date of death was 7150 BCE. (Wikpedia)
How to Participate
To participate in this project, join or follow the project, then add your oldest known ancestor who belonged to this haplogroup. The profile must be set to public in order to add it.
- DNA Haplogroups, mtDNA Phylogenetic Tree - Haplogroup U
- Facebook, mtDNA Haplogroup U5 group
- Wikipedia, Haplogroup U5
The Peopling of Europe from the Mitochondrial Haplogroup U5 Perspective, Malyarchuck et al, 2010 Link to paper
Supplemental data including revised trees for U5a and U5b can be downloaded at the above link.
It is generally accepted that the most ancient European mitochondrial haplogroup, U5, has evolved essentially in Europe. To resolve the phylogeny of this haplogroup, we completely sequenced 113 mitochondrial genomes (79 U5a and 34 U5b) of central and eastern Europeans (Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Russians and Belorussians), and reconstructed a detailed phylogenetic tree, that incorporates previously published data. Molecular dating suggests that the coalescence time estimate for the U5 is ~25–30 thousand years (ky), and ~16–20 and ~20–24 ky for its subhaplogroups U5a and U5b, respectively. Phylogeographic analysis reveals that expansions of U5 subclusters started earlier in central and southern Europe, than in eastern Europe.