W4 is defined by the striking HVR2 motif 143-194-196. It appeared in the Asian steppes east of the Aral Sea around 11,000 years ago. W4, together with W3, W5, and W6 were descendants of a woman with a 194 mutation born in northwest India around 15,000 years ago.
The currently identified W4 lineages are:- W4a with the 3531 coding region mutation and reversal of the 16292 mutation in HVR1. This seems to have originated in the ancestors of the Finns 5,000 years ago. A further subgroup with the 16286 mutation appeared in Norway 4,500 years ago. At some point after 2,500 years ago, there was an explosive expansion of W4a into Denmark and the British Isles, surely associated with the Danish and Viking migrations.
- W4 with the 119 mutation in HVR2. This originated in Kyrgyzstan 9,000 years ago and spread into Russia, and with lineages moving south into eastern Turkey and west into central Europe.
- W4 with the 16213 and 16286 mutations in HVR1. This is reported from two full sequences from Britain. Presumably this lineage entered Britain with the Scandinavians.
- A W4 lineage that migrated into India, presumably with the horse nomads.
How to Read These Phylogenetic Trees
It should be noted that there is one Genographic HVR1 result with the distinctive W4a motif of 16292 reversal and 16286. However this result is definitely W3a1a, and there are similar HVR1-only results from continental Europe that probably W3a1a and not W4.
How to Read These Phylogenetic Trees
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