Overview
Q-M323 is a rare downstream branch of Q-M346 that is best known for its presence among Yemenite Jews. The clade occupies a small but distinctive position within the Q1b cluster and illustrates how haplogroup Q, although often associated with Native Americans and Central Asians, also contributed to the paternal background of specific West Asian and Jewish populations. Age estimates based on full Y chromosome data suggest that the mutation defining M323 is several thousand years old, while the most recent common ancestor of known modern carriers lies in the late Iron Age or historical period, compatible with a founder event inside a relatively small Jewish community.
Geographic distribution
The clearest signal of Q-M323 comes from Yemenite Jews. A classic study of Israeli and Samaritan Y chromosomes found M323 in approximately 15 percent of sampled Yemenite Jewish males, while it was absent or extremely rare in other Jewish and regional groups. Outside Yemenite and related Jewish lines, Q-M323 has not been reported at appreciable frequency, and most occurrences trace to diaspora families whose paternal origins ultimately lie in Yemen or the broader south Arabian Jewish milieu. This sharply focused distribution suggests a strong founder effect within a specific endogamous population, followed by demographic growth inside that group rather than broad diffusion across the Middle East.
Ancient DNA
- No securely published ancient Y chromosome sample has yet been assigned specifically to Q-M323, which is unsurprising given both its rarity and the overall scarcity of high coverage ancient Jewish and south Arabian genomes.
- Indirect evidence from the estimated formation age of M323, which predates the historical common ancestor of living carriers, is consistent with the clade having existed as a minor branch of Q-M346 in West Asia for several millennia before undergoing a recent founder expansion in Yemenite Jews.
- If future ancient DNA from south Arabian or Levantine Jewish communities is sequenced to sufficient resolution, Q-M323 would be a plausible candidate lineage to appear in late Iron Age, classical or early Islamic period individuals.
Phylogeny & subclades
On FTDNA and YFull based phylogenies, M323 belongs to the Q1b side of the tree and falls under Q-M346. Marker based resources indicate that M323.1, the variant associated with haplogroup Q, lies downstream of a BZ4513 like node and in turn has its own derived child BZ4505, reflecting at least one internal bifurcation inside the Jewish cluster. The long branch leading to M323, followed by shallow downstream structure with very recent TMRCAs, matches expectations for a lineage that spent much of its history at very low effective size and then expanded inside a single or a few closely related families.
- Q-M323* (basal Yemeni Jewish cluster)
- Q-BZ4505 (younger internal branch identified in high resolution testing)
Notes & context
Although numerically small, Q-M323 is important for understanding the full geographic and cultural range of haplogroup Q. It shows that Q1b lineages were present in the Arabian and Levantine sphere and that some of these were incorporated into Jewish communities, where they could become prominent due to founder effects and endogamy. For genealogical projects, M323 provides a high resolution marker for identifying and grouping patrilines that trace back to Yemenite Jewish ancestors, complementing better known Jewish associated haplogroups such as J1, J2 and specific E1b1b and R1a branches.
References & external links