Genetics of Armenians

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A breakdown of Armenian Y-DNA (http://caucasus.wikia.com/wiki/Armenian_Genetics) according to Caucasus wiki

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Armenian men's most common Y-DNA (paternal) haplogroup is R1b, found in about 28 percent of those studied. J2 is the next most common at a frequency of 22 percent. Other haplogroups found among them, in descending order of frequencies, include G (11%), J1 (11%), R1a (8%), T (6%), E (5%), I (4%), L (4%), N (2%), and others (1%).

Some members of the "Armenian DNA Project" are part of the branch of R1b known as R1b1a2a* (L23+). A smaller number in the project are located in the branch called R1b1a2* (L265+). These branches are distinguishable from the R1b branches of Europe. That's why Armenians don't belong to the European branches of R1b called U106 and P312.

J1 is common in the Near East. In the "Armenian DNA Project" there are members of the haplogroup branches J1*, J1c3d, and J1c3d1. J2 haplogroups found among Armenians include J2a*, J2a3, J2a4, J2a4a, J2a4b, J2a4b1, J2a4d, J2a4h2, J2a4h2a, J2a4h2f, J2a4h2g, J2b*, and J2b1.

Within E, the haplogroup E1b1b1 was found among members of the "Armenian DNA Project". They belong to branches called V12, V13, V22, and M84/M34.

Within L, Armenians in the project belong to the branches named L2* and L2a. These are found in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions and distinguishable from the common L haplogroups of India and Pakistan.

Armenian men in the project have such G subhaplogroups as G2a3a* (their most frequent G subhaplogroup as of November 26, 2011), G2a* (their second-most frequent G subhaplogroup as of November 26, 2011), G1a, G2a3a1*, G2a3a2*, G2a3b1a*, G2a3b1a1*, and a smattering of others.

F3 is a haplogroup within F that's very infrequently found among Armenian men. Armenians in the project belong to the branches called P96 and M282.

In terms of mtDNA (maternal DNA) haplogroups, Armenians belong to such haplogroups as U, V, F1b1, and R.

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Unspecified Genetic Marker Distribution
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“Admixture analysis indicates the presence of 25–34% of Middle Eastern component in modern Tuscans. …genetic distances point to Eastern Anatolia/Southern Caucasus as the most likely geographic origin of the main Middle Eastern genetic component observed in the genome of modern Tuscans.”
Source (http://peopleofar.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/etruscan-origins-study-reveals-migration-from-armenian-highlands/)

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Armenian Y-chromosome haplotypes reveal strong regional structure within a single ethno-national group (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/tcgapdf/Weale-HG-01-Armenia.pdf)

Peter Hrechdakian on “Armenian DNA Haplogroups: Ancient, Unique & Relevant”

Beirut, October 7, 2010- On October 5, 2010, Peter Hrechdakian, Administrator of the Armenian DNA Project at Family Tree DNA, delivered a lecture entitled “Armenian DNA Haplogroups: Ancient, Unique & Relevant” for the first Cultural Hour of this academic year in the Haigazian University Auditorium.

Hrechdakian began his lecture by explaining how Armenian DNA is ancient, unique and relevant to the other populations in the world. Although himself neither a biologist nor a geneticist, Hrechdakian conveyed to the audience his passion for the Armenian DNA Project, which is based on individual DNA testing in collaboration with Family Tree DNA.

DNA testing, Hrechdakian emphasized, is very important for Armenians since most of their genealogical records were burned by the Ottoman Empire and this is a way for them to recover their history.

Going over the more scientific aspects of the topic, Hrechdakian described how paternal and maternal lines could each be uncovered by studying a different part of our DNA. He showed that Armenians belong to 13 distinct genetic groups that go back tens of thousands of years, while at the same time there is no trace of invaders in their DNA in the last 4000 years, making them “homogeneous in their diversity.”

Hrechdakian concluded with some surprising finds concerning Armenian DNA as a result of the over 300 individuals that have already been tested, revealing that the Armenian branches of DNA are at the root of many branches in Europe. In addition, 85% of Armenian groups are native to the region, having lived there even before the Armenian language came into existence.

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"Gr" here means Georgian. It would have been nice if they used the Georgian code for Georgia GE instead for GR.

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A new paper in Science by Hellenthal et al. (2014) reveals extensive admixture in humans over the last few thousand years. Admixture is the result of previously distant populations meeting and breeding, leaving a genetic signal within the descendants’ genomes. However, over time the signal decays and can be hard to trace. Hellenthal et al. (2014) describe a method, using a technique called chromosome painting, to follow the genetic traces of admixture back to the nearest extant population. The approach revealed details of worldwide human admixture history over the past 4000 years.

Based on these results Hellanthal et al. (2014) created a Genetic Atlas of human admixture history (http://admixturemap.paintmychromosomes.com/) that shows genetic traces for various world populations. Regarding Armenians, it is interesting to see in what populations Armenians left their genetic traces (according to the study). The map above shows significant percentages of Armenian DNA identified by Hellanthal et al. (2014) present in various non-Armenian populations.

List of Armenian genetic traces in non-Armenian populations
According to the study the following groups of people show significant amounts of Armenian genetic traces.

Lezgins (North Caucasus, Caspian Sea) 13.8%
Georgians 12.4%
Tuscans (Italy) 10.7%
Turks 9.9%
Iranians 7.5%
Cypriots 7.3%
Druze (Levant) 6.6%
South Italy 6.2%
Adygei (North Caucasus, Black Sea) 5.9%

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Armenian genes: Scientist in Yerevan launches a project to reveal genetic history of the nation (http://armenianow.com/news/21032/armenian_genetic_history). The description of the science in the piece is very garbled. But, it would be nice to elucidate the genetics of Armenians in more detail. Their language, like Greek and Albanian, is a singleton in the Indo-European family tree. Additionally, the Armenian nation has an extremely long history. Their identity crystallized in the wake of the Persian and Hellenistic Empires just like that of the Jews.

Demographically we know that historically much of eastern Anatolia was dominated by Armenians. Many of the prominent Byzantine dynasties were of Hellenized Armenian lineages. I would predict that one will likely find that most of the Turks of eastern Anatolia would cluster with Armenians, just as those Turks from the west and coastal Anatolia might cluster more with Greeks, because it seems likely that the ethnogenesis of most Turks in Anatolia was a process whereby Greeks and Armenians assimilated to the identity of a small minority of eastern Turkish invaders.