Phylogenetic evidence for multiple independent duplication events at the DYS19 locus

Duplication events at Y chromosome STR loci have been repeatedly described in human populations. DYS19 is probably the best known example and it exhibits duplicate state in individuals from all continents. Despite the large amount of available data, evolutionary relationship between DYS19 duplication-bearing chromosomes has not been so far investigated. We address the genealogical correlation among such chromosomes by analysing newly identified DYS19 duplicated Y chromosomes by SNP genotyping and microsatellite-based network analysis. SNP and network analysis show that DYS19 duplicated Y chromosomes associate with different Y chromosome lineages. These results indicate that DYS19 duplication occurred more than once during human evolution.