Wilson et al. (2001) have observed haplotype 3 (which they have called the Atlantic Modal Haplotype) to be modal in the Welsh, Basques and Irish. They suggest that it is a signature haplotype of the Palaeolithic peopling of Europe. It is interesting to observe that the Atlantic Modal Haplotype was found in the separate isolated regional samples of Syunik (7.9%) and Karabakh (2.8%) but not in the other four Armenian regions. Furthermore, the modal haplotype in these two regions (haplotype 1) is a one-step neighbour of the Atlantic Modal Haplotype that is also found at highest frequencies in Syunik and Karabakh (14.3% and 11.2%, respectively).
The frequencies of the Atlantic Modal Cluster (defined as the Atlantic Modal Haplotype plus its one-step neighbours) are 24.3% in Syunik, 14.0% in Karabakh, and less than 10.0% in all other regions and data sets in our study apart from England (41.0%) and Friesland (36.2%). The frequency in Syunik is significantly greater than in all other non-Western European data sets included in this study. While it is not possible to discount
convergent drift as an explanation for these results, it is worth noting that the more geographically isolated regions of Armenia differ from those areas that are more accessible by displaying a closer genealogical affinity to the Atlantic populations.
If it is not the consequence of drift, the Atlantic Modal Cluster may represent a remnant paternal signal of an ancient, possibly pre-Neolithic population that spread from Southeast Asia into Europe. It will be interesting to determine whether the Atlantic Modal Haplotype and Cluster are detected at high frequencies in other isolated locations in future surveys of Europe and the Near East.
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