Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Haplogroup B (mtDNA)
Introduction
In mitochondrial genetics, Haplogroup B is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup.
Haplogroup B is believed to have arisen in Asia some 50,000 years before present. Its ancestral haplogroup was Haplogroup R.
Haplogroup B is found throughout modern Asia[1]. Its subgroup B2 is one of five haplogroups found in the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the others being A, C, D, and X.
Since the migration to the Americas by the ancestors of Native Americans is generally believed to have been from Siberia, it is especially surprising that Haplogroup B is the only haplogroup found in Native Americans which is not found in modern North Siberian populations. However, Haplogroup B has been found among Southern Siberians, such as Tuvans, Altays, and Buryats. This haplogroup is also found in Mongolians, Tibetans, Koreans, Japanese, populations of Central China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Polynesia and Micronesia.
In his popular book The Seven Daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes named the originator of this mtDNA haplogroup Ina.