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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2006.05.007 Byline: Emma J. Parkin (a), Thirsa Kraayenbrink (b), Jean Robert M.L. Opgenort (c), George L. van Driem (c), Nirmal Man Tuladhar (d), Peter de Knijff (b), Mark A. Jobling (a) Keywords: Y chromosome; STRs; Microsatellites; Haplotype; Nepal; Bhutan; Himalayas Abstract: Twenty-six Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci were amplified in a sample of 769 unrelated males from Nepal, using two multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. The 26 loci gave a discriminating power of 0.997, with 59% unique haplotypes, and the highest frequency haplotype occurring 12 times. We identified novel alleles at four loci, microvariants at a further two, and nine examples of amelogenin-Y deletions (1.2%). Comparison with a similarly sized Bhutanese sample typed with the same markers suggested histories of isolation and drift, with drift having a greater effect in Bhutan. Extended (11-locus) haplotypes for the Nepalese samples have been submitted to the Y-STR Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD). Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK (b) MGC-Department of Human and Clinical Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands (c) Himalayan Languages Project, Leiden University, The Netherlands (d) Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) of Tribhuvan University (TU), Kirtipur, Nepal Article History: Received 30 March 2006; Revised 8 May 2006; Accepted 9 May 2006

The presence of Africans in Britain has been recorded since Roman times, but has left no apparent genetic trace among modern inhabitants. Y chromosomes belonging to the deepest-rooting clade of the Y phylogeny, haplogroup (hg) A, are regarded as African-specific, and no examples have been reported from Britain or elsewhere in Western Europe. We describe the presence of an hgA1 chromosome in an indigenous British male; comparison with African examples suggests a Western African origin. Seven out of 18 men carrying the same rare east-Yorkshire surname as the original male also carry hgA1 chromosomes, and documentary research resolves them into two genealogies with most-recent-common-ancestors living in Yorkshire in the late 18th century. Analysis using 77 Y-short tandem repeats (STRs) is consistent with coalescence a few generations earlier. Our findings represent the first genetic evidence of Africans among ‘indigenous’ British, and emphasize the complexity of human migration history as well as the pitfalls of assigning geographical origin from Y-chromosomal haplotypes.European Journal of Human Genetics (2007) 15, 288–293. doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201771; published online 24 January 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]