page_title: Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia
section_title: mtDNA
hierarchical_section_title: Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia / mtDNA
caption_attribution_description: English: Suggested migratory route of the "Out of Africa" migration according to Mitochondrial DNA
context_page_description: Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia is the study of the genetics and archaeogenetics of the ethnic groups of South Asia. It aims at uncovering these groups' genetic history. The geographic position of South Asia makes its biodiversity important for the study of the early dispersal of anatomically modern humans across Asia.
  Studies based on Mitochondrial DNA variations have reported genetic unity across various South Asian sub–populations. Conclusions of studies based on Y Chromosome variation and Autosomal DNA variation have been varied, although many researchers argue that most of the ancestral nodes of the phylogenetic tree of all the mtDNA types originated in South Asia. Recent genome studies appear to show that most South Asians are descendants of two major ancestral components, one restricted to South Asia and the other component derived from IVC-people and Steppe-people, making it more closely related to those in Central Asia, West Asia and Europe. A 2016 study identified two more ancestral components in mainland India, denoted as AAA and ATB, that are major for the Austro-Asiatic-speaking tribals and the Tibeto-Burman speakers respectively.
context_section_description: The most frequent mtDNA haplogroups in South Asia are M, R and U (where U is a descendant of R).
  Arguing for the longer term "rival Y-Chromosome model", Stephen Oppenheimer believes that it is highly suggestive that India is the origin of the Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups which he calls the "Eurasian Eves". According to Oppenheimer it is highly probable that nearly all human maternal lineages in Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe descended from only four mtDNA lines that originated in South Asia 50,000–100,000 years ago.
caption: Hypothesized map of human migration into South Asia based on mitochondrial DNA and possible dispersal routes.
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