Genetic differentiation of Jewish populations

Abstract

The Jewish diaspora can be viewed as a natural process in population dispersion and differentiation. We extend genetic studies on the Jewish diaspora to an analysis of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype distributions in the Jewish peoples, and show the value of this information for the design of Jewish marrow donor registries. HLA data from the Hadassah Bone Marrow Registry having parental country-of-origin information comprise samples of geographically discrete regions. We analyzed the HLA allele and haplotype frequencies for each national sample using population genetic and clustering methods. Population differentiation among diaspora populations was shown on the basis of HLA haplotype frequencies, including differences within the more recently diverged European groups. A method of haplotype and population clustering showed patterns of unique haplotype affinities associated with specific Jewish populations. The evidence showed that diaspora Jewish populations can be sorted into distinct clades of which the Ashkenazi are but one. Relationships among Jewish populations are interpretable in light of the historical record. We suggest that a major contributing factor to the genetic divergence between Jewish groups may have been admixture with local host populations, while, at the same time, threads of Eastern Mediterranean ancestry remain evident.

Spectrum of HLA associations: the case of medically refractory pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

“…Based on Ashkenazi haplotype frequencies from the Hadassah registry (Klitz et al 2010), the European-American patient sample was calculated to be 10% Jewish, compared to 5% Jewish for the control sample. Jewish haplotypes were then sampled from the Ashkenazi frequencies with replacement and randomly selected subjects with the haplotype were removed from both the patient and control samples until the estimated Ashkenazi admixture was 0% in both patient and control samples.…”

Tracking human migrations by the analysis of the distribution of HLA alleles, lineages and haplotypes in closed and open populations

“…Alleles at DQA1 and DQB1 that associate tightly with alleles of the DRB1*08 group are shown. These haplotype fragments were classified according to their frequencies in different populations [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] in these populations were from this locus, and it has been postulated that HLA-B has diversified more rapidly in the South American tribes. Interestingly, in many tribes the novel alleles are present at the highest gene frequencies, suggesting that the novel alleles generated in America were positively selected in these populations probably because they provided selective advantages.…”

“…We analysed the distribution of HLA alleles in Jewish subjects living in Israel [28]; these were classified into 31 groups defined by contemporary country-of-origin information, and their similarities and differences on the basis of HLA haplotypes were studied. In these groups, we observed significant allelic overlap with European populations; Jewish populations presented a few ethnic-specific alleles.…”

Lichen Planopilaris is Associated with HLA DRB1*11 and DQB1*03 Alleles

“…Moreover, in our study, there was a correlation between homozygosity for DRB1*11: 04 and disease severity. HLA allele frequencies are known to differ between Jews and many other populations (32), representing one of the traits that accounts for the genetic uniqueness of the Jewish people (33). Moreover, the prevalence of autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes and pemphigus, apparently differs between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jews (34,35).…”