TY - JOUR T1 - Carriers of human mitochondrial DNA macrohaplogroup M colonized India from southeastern Asia JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/047456 SP - 047456 AU - Patricia Marrero AU - Khaled K. Abu-Amero AU - Jose M Larruga AU - Vicente M Cabrera Y1 - 2016/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/04/06/047456.abstract N2 - Objetives We suggest that the phylogeny and phylogeography of mtDNA macrohaplogroup M in Eurasia and Australasia is better explained supposing an out of Africa of modern humans following a northern route across the Levant than the most prevalent southern coastal route across Arabia and India proposed by others.Methods A total 206 Saudi samples belonging to macrohaplogroup M have been analyzed. In addition, 4107 published complete or nearly complete Eurasian and Australasian mtDNA genomes ascribed to the same macrohaplogroup have been included in a global phylogeographic analysis.Results Macrohaplogroup M has only historical implantation in West Eurasia including the Arabian Peninsula. Founder ages of M lineages in India are significantly younger than those in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Near Oceania. These results point to a colonization of the Indian subcontinent by modern humans carrying M lineages from the east instead the west side.Conclusions The existence of a northern route previously advanced by the phylogeography of mtDNA macrohaplogroup N is confirmed here by that of macrohaplogroup M. Taking this genetic evidence and those reported by other disciplines we have constructed a new and more conciliatory model to explain the history of modern humans out of Africa. ER -