By Jide Uwechia with cited sources
The Benin Haplogroup or Haplogroup 19 Common in Africans, southern Greeks, Sicilians, and Albanians
There are at least four distinct African, (known as Senegal, Congo, Benin, Bantu Hbs Haplogroups) and one Asian chromosomal backgrounds (haplotypes) on which the sickle cell mutation has arisen.
The Benin haplotype (which originates from Nigeria, West Africa) accounts for HbS associated chromosomes in Sicily Northern Greece, Southern Turkey, and South West Saudi Arabia, suggesting that these genes had their origin in West Africa. The Asian haplotype is rarely encountered outside its geographic origin because there have been few large population movements and Indian emigrants have been predominantly from non HbS containing populations. Per:Graham R. Serjeant, MD, FRCP, The Geography Of Sickle Cell Disease:Opportunities For Understanding Its DiversityRSITY: http://www.kfshrc.edu.sa/annals/143/rev9239.html
Nigeria, west Africa appears the most logical origin of the sickle mutation in Greece evidence from beta S globin gene cluster polymorphisms (1991). It has been conclusively demonstrated that HbS in Greece is mostly haplotype #19 (the one that originated in Benin, Nigeria West Africa). See, Boussiou M, Loukopoulos D, Christakis J, Fessas P.; The origin of the sickle mutation in Greece; evidence from beta S globin gene cluster polymorphisms. Unit for Prenatal Diagnosis, Laikon Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Additionally, previous data suggest that the S/Bantu haplotype (from Southern Africa) is heterogeneous at the molecular level. Recent studies also report a similar heterogenity for the Benin Haplogroup. A study demonstrated the presence of the A -499 TA variation in sickle cell anemia chromosomes of Sicilian and North African origin bearing the S/Benin haplotype (from Nigeria). Being absent from North American S/Benin chromosomes, which were studied previously, this variation is indicative for the molecular heterogeneity of the S/Benin haplotype. Am. J. Hematol. 80:79-80, 2005.
A study was done in Albania (which borders Greece) relating to sickle cell anemia, sickle cell beta-thalassemia, and thalassemia major in Albania. The focus of the study was the characterization of sickle cell mutations. As one would expect, it was shown that the HbS mutation in the Albanian sample is the Benin (Nigeria)-originating haplotype #19. See, Boletini E, Svobodova M, Divoky V, Baysal E, Dimovski AJ, Liang R, Adekile AD, Huisman TH.; Sickle cell anemia, sickle cell beta-thalassemia, and thalassemia major in Albania: characterization of mutations. : Hum Genet. 1994 Feb;93(2):182-7.
According to a study done in 1973, before the availability of the advanced data cited above, “the occurrence of the sickle-cell trait in southern Europe …. is believed to reflect gene flow from the Middle East.” See A. P. GELPI, M.D, “Migrant Populations and the Diffusion of the Sickle-Cell Gene” August 1, 1973 vol. 79 no. 2 258-264 http://www.annals.org/content/79/2/258.abstract.
The problem with this 1973 study is that it assumes that the sickle cell genes came with the Arabs. Alas, updated research work has proven beyond doubt that the sickle cell genes proven to exist in southern Europe are exclusively Sickle cell gene Haplotype 19 or the Benin Sickle cell gene from Nigeria.
Y Haplogroup E-M78 and YAP In Black Africans and Greeks
Y Haplogroup E-M78 a derivative of E3B is a signature African gene as confirmed in research studies over the last few years. The high frequency of this haplogroup in Greece suggests the presence of a substantive African population in that region during prehistoric and historical time periods.
A recent paper has detected clades of haplogroups J and E3b that were likely not part of pre-historic migrations into Europe, but rather spread by later historical movements. Greeks .. [then there is] the marker J-M267, which may reflect more recent Middle Eastern admixture.
(Semino et al., Am J Hum Genet, 2004) E3b originates from East Africa while there is a high frequency of J-M267 in the East Coast of Africa as well as the Red sea coast of Arabia.
A recent sampling of the Greek population comprised 36 Peloponnesian samples, 5 of which were J-M172(xM12) and 17 of which were E-M78 (R.K., unpublished data).
In spite of the small Peloponnesian sample size, the high E-M78 frequency (47%) observed here is consistent with that (44%) independently found in the same region (Di Giacomo et al. 2003) for the YAP chromosomes harboring microsatellite haplotypes A. (Novelletto, personal communication) (Cruciani et al. 2004).
The study by by Di Giacomo et al. found the following African haplogroups in Greeks: Haplogroup A which is highly specific to West Africa, R1a, DE, and J2*(xDYS413= 18)J*(xJ2). R1* which probably gave rise to R1a is found in Northern Cameroon. DE is found principally among Nigerians and it is suspected that it originated from Nigeria. J is very prominent in East, and North Africa.
High-resolution Y-chromosome haplotyping and particular microsatellite associations reveal … an East Africa homeland for E-M78.Origin. See Ornella Semino, Chiara Magri, et al “Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area” http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=15069642
HLA Genetic Relationship Between Ancient Greeks and Black Africans
HLA genes are reliable markers of past population movement and are still used in laboratories today to establish genetic inter-relationship amongst seemingly diverse peoples.
HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks (2001) was a study conducted by Dr. Arniaz and other scholars in a top flying Spanish University. This study uses HLA genes to establish the African dimension of the roots of ancient Greece.
According to the Arniaz study, …Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan (Ethiopian) people, which separate them from other Mediterranean groups. Both Greeks and Ethiopians share quasi-specific DRB1 alleles, such as *0305, *0307, *0411, *0413, *0416, *0417, *0420, *1110, *1112, *1304 and *1310. Genetic distances are closer between Greeks and Ethiopian/sub-Saharan groups than to any other Mediterranean group and finally Greeks cluster with Ethiopians/sub-Saharans in both neighbour joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses. The time period when these relationships might have occurred was ancient but uncertain and might be related to the displacement of Egyptian-Ethiopian people living in pharaonic Egypt. See Arnaiz-Villena A, et.al: HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks. Tissue Antigens. 2001 Feb; 57(2): 118-27
There is a fraudulent claim (by those with idealogical investments in the topic) on the Internet that this study has been “retracted” or “refuted.” The study is perfectly valid. Sub-Saharan-specific and quasi-sub-Saharan-specific alleles were definitely detected in the Greek population at the DRB1 locus, and this is not open to question.
It would be helpful here to discuss the study that was retracted, and the reason why. It is the work titled: “The origin of Palestinians and their genetic relatedness with other Mediterranean populations” (which contained some cross-referenced Greek data in a neighbor-joining dendogram and a correspondence analysis) that was retracted. And it was retracted solely and strictly for political reasons, as this Observer article makes crystal clear:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4307083,00.html
(Keep in mind we are dealing with the study on the relatedness of Jews and Palestinians at the moment, which was retracted, and not the one on the Greek-Black African relatedness, which was not retracted and remains valid. The two must not be confused.)
Appreciations to: http://onedroprule.org/about1071.html
Epilogue:
“Hb S is common in some areas of the Mediterranean basin, including regions of Italy, Greece, Albania and Turkey (Boletini et al., 1994) (Schiliro et al., 1990). Haplotype analysis shows that the Hb S in these areas originated in Africa. The genes probably moved along ancient trading routes between wealthy kingdoms in western Africa and the trade centers in the Mediterranean basin.” (Harvard University, http://sickle.bwh.harvard.edu/scdmanage.html)
“Usually, people with sickle cell disease outside Africa (e.g., blacks in the United States) or India have mixed haplotypes for their sickle cell genes.” (Harvard University, http://sickle.bwh.harvard.edu/scdmanage.html)
“Templeton gives a modern-day analogy: the presence of a gene for sickle cell anemia in Caucasians in Portugal. The gene traces back to a mutation that occurred in Africa and spread through interbreeding between Africans and Europeans. “The Africans didn’t come up, reconquer the Iberian peninsula, kill off all the Europeans, and that’s why there are sickle cell alleles in Portugal today,” he says. The presence of the sickle cell gene in Portugal “means that Portuguese and Africans have met and they’ve interbred, just like humans tend to do.” – “Out of Africa” – Ruth Flanagan, Contributing Editor, Earth Magazine, http://www2.mc.maricopa.edu/anthro/l…ofAfrica5.html
Because HBS is a clear genetic footprint of African ancestors, some have tried to misrepresent the putative period when this genetic footprint entered Europe.
That it was in ancient Europe is no longer in doubt having been confirmed by DNA analysis of a skeleton discovered near Rome. The skeletal evidence was dated some 2100 years ago. By this date, HBS was established…read established in Rome suggesting that it came into Southern Europe at a much earlier period.
In light of the evidence and sources shown below, any suggestion that HBS is about 1000 years old in Europe should now be abandoned.
“The sickle-cell trait was also present (in the ancient Mediterranean world) by Roman times. The skeleton of an approximately twenty-year-old man with porotic hyperostosis was excavated on the island of Failaka in the Persian Gulf. The bones were radiocarbon dated to 2130 ± 80 BP. Scanning-electron microscopy of the bones directly revealed fossilized erythrocytes with the characteristic sickle shape.60
Research in experimental archaeology has confirmed that it is possible for human red blood cells to leave a recognizable print on archaeological materials.61 Today haemoglobin S occurs with a frequency of about 2 per cent in some Mediterranean populations. Haplotype analysis has demonstrated that the sickle-cell trait in Sicily, northern Greece, and western Arabia is in linkage disequilibrium with the Benin haplotype in western central Africa.62 This constitutes direct evidence for gene flow linked to human migration from central Africa to Mediterranean Europe in historical times.”
60 G Maat and M Baig, ‘Scanning electron microscopy of fossilized sickle-cells’, Int. J. Anthropol., 1990, 5: 271–6; G Maat, ‘Bone preservation, decay and its related conditions in ancient human bones from Kuwait’, Int. J. Osteoarchaeol., 1993, 3: 77–86.
61 P Hortolà , ‘Red blood cell haemotaphonomy of experimental human bloodstains on techno-prehistoric lithic raw materials’, J. Archaeol. Sci., 2002, 29: 733–9.
62 A Ragusa, M Lombardo, G Sortino, T Lombardo, R L Nagel, and D Labie, ‘βS gene in Sicily is in linkage disequilibrium with the Benin haplotype: implications for gene flow’, Am. J. Hematol., 1988, 27: 139–41.
See further: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=547919
Ignoramus, are you beginning to comprehend? We have the time to teach you and we will gladly oblige your unfortunate hubris.
Glad to have helped
Jahdey
Ignoramus continues his rants:
“the clinal frequency distribution of E-M78a within Europe testifies to important dispersal(s), most
likely Neolithic or post-Neolithic.”
Jahdey corrects the fool: E-M78 which originally arises out of East Africa has several clusters including Alpha.
But Ignoramus has ignorantly missed the point as usual. E-M78 per se comes directly out of Africa. When it got to Mediterranean and Black sea region, another polymorphic event (read – mutation) gave rise to the Alpha cluster of E-M78. But E-M78 as any fresh student of genetics can confirm arises out of East Africa.
My Ignoramus friend has exhausted his vitupretation. He started out by denying African ancient Greek blood lines. Now he is reduced to qualifying African ancient Greek bloodlines…sometimes by suggesting that such blood lines began only 300 year ago which is too near to be antiquity, or that it occurred in antiquity which is too old for modern times.
When a man is plagued by a gaping sense of personal inadequacy, he resorts to such boorishness.
Run away…fool. Mr. Ignoramus, people like you die from the pollution of falsehood.
Jahdey
Orphic Hymn,
Thanks for the timely response, which made your position more lucid.
Jahdey,
I’m puzzled, as to why you don’t take much satisfaction, in the knowledge that Africans are the parents of us all.
Why do you feel the need to try and connect Nigerian and Greek history? Nigeria has a great past in its own merit. Everyone knows that all humans are related if you go back far enough.
Jeff and Abubakar
Don’t be suprised my friends, the reason is evident… He’s a victim of his own inferiority complex.
Children like our friend lack pride in any of the true achivements of their own people (and in this case more than a few), they rediculously feel that they are inadequate, so to deal with their complex.. they resort to distorting papers, selective quotations and when confronted for this, resort to pathetic insults..
I’ve seen this in Turks (commonly among hot-head uneducated nationalists), Nordicists, so-called “white-nationalists”..etc. All those who need to feed their humbled ego resort to the same tactics.
Quote as many papers as you like, I’ll simply requote the paper you originally claimed to have cited (DISTORTED actually) and thus accept as accurate. Graham, “The Geography of Sickle Cell Disease: Opportunities for Understanding its Diversity†states:
“THE FACTOR IN COMMON TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SICKLE CELL GENE IS THEREFORE MALARIA AND NOT AFRICAN ANCESTRY”
end of story.
E-M78
So after distorting texts and screen names, you now resort to distortning my own words..Child you fail to see, that unlike you I have no complexes about who I am, what I personally or my ancestors have achieved .. its YOU that resorts to pathetic distortions of texts and instead of expressing an apology to those you claim to represent for your stupidity.. continue celebrating it driven by your complexes.
E-M78 originates in Africa some 23ky ago.. BUT the alpha cluster DOES NOT it originates in the Balkans or Anatolia some 7-14ky ago.. hence why its non-existant in Africa where gamma and delta clusters are predominant.
see Cruciani already cited.
Now do you intend to address my original questions of WHY you’ve distorted texts ?
Ophesus Ignoramus whines: “Quote as many papers as you like, I’ll simply requote the paper you originally claimed to have cited (DISTORTED actually) and thus accept as accurate.”
Translated this means: “I Ophesus, am duh Ignoramus. Unable to deal with detailed validated scientific research; unable to read scientific papers and evidence, unable to synthesize disparate facts.”
You are now arguing with the numerous scientists who have written those papers and drawn their conclusion. You are nolonger refuting Jahdey, but crying over the fact that there are so many more scientific report on this subject that there can no longer be doubts about the authenticity of the thesis.
Most pathetically, you have been unable to cite one peer reviewed paper to counter the endless stream of scientific evidence that has been presented. This again shows us the limits of your “scholarship” my dear ignorant friend.
You may keep repeating yourself over and over again; keep dodging addressing the plethora of scientific evidence against your racist presumptions; but you are no impressing anyone with your spamming. It is not advisable to take on your intellectual superiors because you will be instantly demolished by the repeletion and pularity of cogent evidence…some of which are evidently over your head.
Our thesis again states that:
Haplotype analysis has demonstrated that the sickle-cell trait in Sicily, northern Greece, and western Arabia is in linkage disequilibrium with the Benin haplotype in western central Africa. This constitutes direct evidence for gene flow linked to human migration from central Africa to Mediterranean Europe in historical times.†— A Ragusa, M Lombardo, G Sortino, T Lombardo, R L Nagel, and D Labie, ‘βS gene in Sicily is in linkage disequilibrium with the Benin haplotype: implications for gene flow’, Am. J. Hematol., 1988, 27: 139–41.
Read this:
http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/the-black-greeks-by-prof-clyde-winters/
Just cite one, one peer reviewed paper that disproves the thesis of the article:
(a)that ancient Greeks have HBS genes from Nigeria; Haplogroup 19.
(b)that ancient Greeks also carry genetic material originating from Ethiopia;
(c)that haplogroup A, and E-M78, are absent on the Agean Islands and as such in Greeks.
If you are unable to cite one scientific paper to counter my arguments or to support your own, then you remain the illiterate that you will always be.
Simply restricting yourself to cutting and pasting out of context quotes from papers I have already directed you to go read presents you as a mischeivious inadequate racist that is seeking to deny African people their ancient achievement; or you are just one huge irremediably damaged semi-illiterate. Do more independent research to show us how “superior in complex” that you are you little wretch. Show us a bit of your intellectual brilliance. Cite some peer reviewed papers!
Your Teacher
Jahdey
PS: Ignoramus, ridiculous is spelt with an “i” not an “e”…you keep defacing this website with your bad grammar and spelling (rediculous). One more bad spelling and you will be fined. :-))