M1 is East African Abu Amero et al 2007 Abu Amero et al 2007 licensee BioMed Central Ltd Eurasian and African mitochondrial DNA influences in the Saudi Arabian population Macrohaplogroup M Five of the eight M Saudi Arab lineages clustered into the M1 African haplogroup Three of them had the 16359 transition that was diagnostic of the M1a East African cluster and the remaining one belonged to the rare but widespread M1b1 cluster characterized in the HVSI region by 16185 transition and the 16190d deletion that had been identified in the northwest Africa Jordan and the Iberian Peninsula 27 The other three M sequences belonged to Indian clades One had the basic motif 16126 16223 of the M3 haplogroup 28 A second had the 15928 and 16304 transitions that defined haplogroup M25 29 although this sequence see Additional file 1 did not match any of the definite or putative M25 sequences found in India 29 31 or Pakistan 26 M1 originated in Africa Semino The Genetic Legacy of Paleolithic Homo sapiens Conversely all non M mtDNAs of non African origin analysed so far carry 10873 T These data indicate that the transition 10400 C T which defines haplogroup M arose on an African background characterized by the ancestral state 10873C which is also present in four primate common and pygmy chimps gorilla and orangutan mtDNA sequences