# Population Genetics > mtDNA Haplogroups > L >  mtDNA M

## NiceIllustrator

First off, hello everyone! I would like to start a discussion about the *M* haplogroup as my first post.
Just learned my mtDNA is *M5a*, but I can barely find information about *M* itself so I thought we might need a thread on it first.

I will try to update this post whenever I find more information about this particular sub-haplogroup(?)
Anyone else sharing this mtDNA with me? What information have you been able to gather?

*mtDNA M - What do we know?

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_"Haplogroup M is one of two groups that branched from haplogroup L3 soon after humans ventured out of Africa about 60,000 years ago. 
The exit from Africa itself likely crossed the Bab el-Mandeb, a narrow strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. Early members of M appear 
to have migrated rapidly along the coast of the Indian Ocean, probably reaching southeastern Asia within a few thousand years. 
The harsh Ice Age climate 60,000 years ago would have made life away from the coast difficult for the new migrants. 
But with climatic improvements over the millennia people gradually carried haplogroup M inland, often following the paths of major rivers like the Indus in India. 
Once it had established itself in coastal Asia and some inland locations as well, M gave rise to local haplogroups throughout the continent."
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## ThirdTerm

M5 is a predominant haplogroup among the caste populations in India, especially among the Brahmin populations (Maji et al. 2009). M5a was found in individuals from the Brahmin populations of Uttar Pradesh and the Gadaba population of Orissa. The coalescence time of M5a is estimated to be 23,100 ± 7,700 BP and it may have been introduced to Europe by the Romani population from India. M5a1b1a1 is the most distinctive European Romani haplogroup, which represents 18% of their mtDNA pool (Gómez-Carballa et al. 2013).




> M5 (1888-16129) was observed to be predominant among the castes rather than tribes (Basu et al. 2003). Sun et al.(2006) reported haplogroup M5 in individuals from Bhargavaand Chaturvedi (Brahmin) populations of Uttar Pradesh andfrom Thogataveera population of Andhra Pradesh. Individuals from Rajputs of Bihar and Muslims of Karnataka were also found to harbour this haplogroup (Rajkumar et al. 2005).
> 
> The haplogroup is also present in three predominant caste populations of Maharashtra, namely, Maratha, Desasth Brahmin and Chitpavan Brahmin (Gaikwad and Kashyap 2005) and also among the caste groups of Orissa, viz., Oriya Brah-mins, Karan and Gope (Sahoo and Kashyap 2006). But in contrast to the predominance of M5 in caste populations, the tribe Koya displays the presence of M5 up to 32% (Kivisild etal. 2003). Even the tribes of Orissa (Juang, Saora and Paroja ) show the presence of M5 but in comparatively low frequency of about 5%–10% (Sahoo and Kashyap 2006).
> 
> The sub-haplogroup of M5, M5a (709-3921-12477-14323) was reported in individuals from Brahmin populations of Uttar Pradesh and from Reddy populations of Andhra Pradesh (Sun et al. 2006). Rajkumar et al. (2005) observed this sub-haplogroup in a Bhovi individual from Karnataka of southern India and Thangaraj et al. (2006) found M5a in Gadaba population of Orissa. Another sub-haplogroup of M5, M5b was reported in Saora and Paroja populations of Orissa (Sahoo and Kashyap 2006). The coalescence times of M5 and its sub-haplogroup M5a was estimated to be 52, 000 ± 14, 600 and 23, 100 ± 7700 yr, respectively (Thangaraj et al. 2006).

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## NiceIllustrator

That's to fascinating! Thanks for the input, really do appreciate it. Would never have crossed my mind, India feels so far away, but given the time frame it sounds more than applause. How widespread is this particular gene among western europeans?

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## thejkhan

> How widespread is this particular gene among western europeans?


Very rare. Mostly found among people with Romani origin.

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## Ikobe

My mtdna is M1a1

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