The D haplogroup is nothing more than a African M haplogroup. The sub-clade D4, is the Asian name for the M1 haplogroup.
Haplotypes with HVSI transitions defining 16129-16223-16249-16278-16
Haplogroup M was a common Paleoamerican haplogroup. Paleoamericans carried haplogroup M. the 5000 year old skeletons from China Lake, British Columbia carried the M haplogroup (Malhi et al., 2007). This was confirmed by Malhi et al (2007), who found that the skeletons belong to haplogroup M, exhibiting the AluI site gain at np 10397. He was unable to match the China Lake skeletons’ mtDNA to haplogroup C, D, or sub-haplogroup M7, M8, or M9.
Although, these haplogroups are assigned an Asian origin Africans also carry these M subclades including , for example, haplogroups A and M7. Some Native American present Sub-Saharan African admixture. The Mande speakers carry mtDNA haplogroup A, which is common among Mexicans namely the Mixe and Mixtecs . In addition to the Mande speaking people of West Africa, Salas et al (2002) made it clear Southeast Africans also carry mtDNA A.
Naia of Mexico was D1 and Anzick child was also D4. Most contemporary Native Americans carry mtDNA that belongs to the M macrohaplogroup, namely A and B. The Olmec who were Mande speakers carried mtDNA A, like the Mande in Africa (Jackson et al, 2005).
The D haplogroup , is the name for M1, in Asia (Fucharoen et al, 2001; Yao et al, 2002). Haplotypes with HVSI transitions defining 16129-16223-16249-16278-16
However, on the basis of currently available FGS sequences, carriers of these markers are now labled D4a branch of Haplogroup D . Given the transitions in haplogroup D, it is the most widespread branch of M1 in East Asia (Fucharoen et al, 2001; Yao et al, 2002). The transitions 16129,16189,16249 and 16311 are known to be recurrent in various branches of Haplogroup M, especially M1 and D4. Due to these transitions we can argue that Native Americans carrying D, are carrying African haplogroup M, especially M1 in the case of haplogroup D4.
References:
Antonio Salas, Martin Richards, Tomás De la Fe. (2002).,The Making of the African mtDNA Landscape.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC385086/
Fucharoen G, Fucharoen S, Horai S.(2001). Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism in Thailand. J Hum Genet , 46:115-125.
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Jackson BA, Wilson JL, (2005). Mitochondrial DNA genetic diversity among four ethnic groups in Sierra Leone. Am J Phys Anthropol. Sep;128(1):156-63
Malhi , R. et al. (2006) Mitochondrial haplogroup M discovered in prehistoric North Am J Arch Scien 34 (2007), http://public.wsu.edu/
Yao YG, Kong QP, Bandelt HJ, Kivisild T, Zhang YP.(2002). Phylogeographic differentiation of mitochondrial DNA in Han chinese. Am J Hum Genet , 70:635-651.
