Haplogroup D-M15

Haplogroup D-M15 is widely distributed throughout populations that dwell to the northwest, north, northeast, east, and southeast of the Himalaya. It is not found among the populations of India to the south and southwest. The distribution of Haplogroup D1 in Southeast Asia is also very limited, as it is found there only at low frequency and only among populations that speak Tibeto-Burman or Hmong-Miao languages, which have ancestral ties to the north.

The distribution of Haplogroup D-M15 is much more regular in the north, as it is found among nearly all the populations of Central Asia and Northeast Asia south of the Russian border, although generally at a low frequency of 2% or less. A dramatic spike in the frequency of Haplogroup D-M15 occurs as one approaches the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of western China: among some local populations in Qinghai, it has been found to reach as high as 100%. Its frequency gradually fades as one travels south through the territory of the Tibetan peoples, as Haplogroup O3, which is the most common haplogroup among the Hmong-Miao and also generally found among Southeast Asian populations, becomes dominant. Haplogroup D-M15 continues to occur at an overall very low frequency among the Han people to the east; however, there are some indications that the frequency of D-M15 among the Hans may vary significantly between localities. A secondary, minor spike in the frequency of Haplogroup D-M15 occurs again in Korea, where it may reach as high as 5% to 8%; this somewhat heightened frequency stretch into Japan, which may corroborate historical accounts of immigration from the country of Qin in the far west of ancient China to the country of Jinhan, which is believed to have been located somewhere in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. As for the ultimate origin of Haplogroup D-M15, one can only speculate that it might share a recent common ancestor with other members of the greater D-M174 lineage who have not tested as part of another branch. Such are found at a low frequency among modern populations of Central Asia.