2016 I-L160 Draft tree based on Big Y results (slightly updated Dec 2016)

I-M26 is the well known haplogroup is found in Sardinia and throughout the most western parts of Europe. Probably more than 75% of I-M26 men belong to the I-L160 branch. The L160 SNP was discovered in 2009 thanks to a Walk Through the Y test done by I-P37 project member Wil Husted, now deceased. L160 was the first major SNP below I-M26 to be discovered.

Paolo Francalacci's lab sequenced the genomes of approximately 1200 men in Sardinia and 464 belong to I-M26.These men belonged to several very distinct branches as shown in his paper published in Nature in 2013, some were L160- and others L160+. But the largest group of I-M26 men in Sardinia belong to the M26+ L160+ PF4088+ PF4189+ PF4190+ branch. The Genographic 2.0 test (original version) contained many PF series SNPs (named for Paolo Francalacci) that are found in I-PF4190. But for some reason, the Geno 2.0  test (original version) included very few PF SNPs from other branches of I-M26.

The 1000 Genomes project had good coverage of Spain and Latin America and a few I-M26 men were found in Spain, Puerto Rico and Colombia. Some of the SNPs from the two Puerto Rico men were named as Z96-Z128 (approximately), and also added to the Geno 2.0 test. And some of these PF and Z SNPs from the Geno 2.0 test were added to the FTDNA catalog and eventually added to the FTDNA haplotree.

Thanks to all of this, we learned a great deal about the distribution of many branches of I-M26. Because so much was already known, there wasn't an initial rush of orders of the Big Y test. But now several men in I-L160 have completed the Big Y and we have found many new branches as shown on this tree. Click here to download a pdf version.