Y chromosome evidence for a founder effect in Ashkenazi Jews

Nebel, Almut; Filon, Dvora; Faerman, Marina; Soodyall, Himla; Oppenheim, Ariella

doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201319

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Haplotypes are coded as in Table 1. slightly lower than observed in Portuguese population at large (0.999 6 0.001; Alves et al, 2007). This high Y-STR diversity is in accordance with the findings of Nebel et al (2001) in the Middle Eastern Sephardic Jews, but contrasts with those usually observed in Ashkenazi Jews, which present much lower diversities than non-Jewish Europeans (Behar et al, 2003(Behar et al, , 2004Nebel et al, 2005). It is worth mentioning that, as it was previously found by Behar et al (2004) in Ashkenazi Jews, the average variance in allele size is higher in Portuguese Jews (1.00) than in general population [0.87; estimated from Alves et al (2007) data], reinforcing the previous observation at SNP level.…”

Section: Diversity Of Jewish Male Lineages From Ne Portugalsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…This haplogroup and in particular R1a1-M17 emerges with elevated frequencies in Ashkenazim Jews, but with rather lower frequencies in Sephardic Jews (Nebel et al, 2001(Nebel et al, , 2005Behar et al, 2003;Shen et al, 2004;Adams et al, 2008). This haplogroup is widely distributed throughout Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Hungary, and its presence in Ashkenazim Jews is attributed to the genetic interaction of the populations of these regions with the founding communities of this rite (Behar et al, 2003;Nebel et al, 2005). Although it is a frequent lineage in the various published studies concerning Jewish populations, in this work the frequency found for this haplogroup is very low, similar to the non-Jewish Portuguese population.…”

Section: Haplogroup R1mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Skorecki et al, 1997;Thomas et al, 1998;Nebel et al, 2001Nebel et al, , 2005Ostrer, 2001;Behar et al, 2003Behar et al, , 2004Adams et al, 2008), there has not been accomplished yet any systematic study on the Portuguese Jewish communities and in particular those from Trá sos-Montes, the so-called crypto-Jews. The phenomenon of crypto-Judaism besides presenting an obvious cultural and anthropological interest presents from the population genetics point of view a precious natural experiment in which it remains to be shown how the persistence of hidden religious practices and the strong sense of belonging to a community translate into genetics.…”

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confidence: 97%

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Phylogeographic analysis of paternal lineages in NE Portuguese Jewish communities

Nogueiro

Manco

Gomes

et al. 2009

American J Phys Anthropol

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The establishment of Jewish communities in the territory of contemporary Portugal is archaeologically documented since the 3rd century CE, but their settlement in Trás-os-Montes (NE Portugal) has not been proved before the 12th century. The Decree of Expulsion followed by the establishment of the Inquisition, both around the beginning of the 16th century, accounted for a significant exodus, as well as the establishment of crypto-Jewish communities. Previous Y chromosome studies have shown that different Jewish communities share a common origin in the Near East, although they can be quite heterogeneous as a consequence of genetic drift and different levels of admixture with their respective host populations. To characterize the genetic composition of the Portuguese Jewish communities from Trás-os-Montes, we have examined 57 unrelated Jewish males, with a high-resolution Y-chromosome typing strategy, comprising 16 STRs and 23 SNPs. A high lineage diversity was found, at both haplotype and haplogroup levels (98.74 and 82.83%, respectively), demonstrating the absence of either strong drift or founder effects. A deeper and more detailed investigation is required to clarify how these communities avoided the expected inbreeding caused by over four centuries of religious repression. Concerning haplogroup lineages, we detected some admixture with the Western European non-Jewish populations (R1b1b2-M269, approximately 28%), along with a strong ancestral component reflecting their origin in the Middle East [J1(xJ1a-M267), approximately 12%; J2-M172, approximately 25%; T-M70, approximately 16%] and in consequence Trás-os-Montes Jews were found to be more closely related with other Jewish groups, rather than with the Portuguese non-Jewish population.

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Section: Diversity Of Jewish Male Lineages From Ne Portugalsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Haplogroup R1mentioning

confidence: 98%

mentioning

confidence: 97%

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Phylogeographic analysis of paternal lineages in NE Portuguese Jewish communities

Nogueiro

Manco

Gomes

et al. 2009

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…40 Overall, Ashkenazi Jews exhibit a frequency of 15.3% for haplogroup R1a1a-M198. 37 Nebel et al 41 proposed, on the basis of moderate to high frequency of R1a1a in Central Asia and southern Russia/Ukraine, that these R1a1a chromosomes in Ashkenazi groups might represent vestiges of Khazars. It is thought that this Turkic tribe from Central Asia had converted to Judaism at the end of the Eighth century C.E.…”

Section: Similarity Between Pathans From Afghanistan and Pakistanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Afghanistan from a Y-chromosome perspective

et al. 2012

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Central Asia has served as a corridor for human migrations providing trading routes since ancient times. It has functioned as a conduit connecting Europe and the Middle East with South Asia and far Eastern civilizations. Therefore, the study of populations in this region is essential for a comprehensive understanding of early human dispersal on the Eurasian continent. Although Y-chromosome distributions in Central Asia have been widely surveyed, present-day Afghanistan remains poorly characterized genetically. The present study addresses this lacuna by analyzing 190 Pathan males from Afghanistan using high-resolution Y-chromosome binary markers. In addition, haplotype diversity for its most common lineages (haplogroups R1a1a*-M198 and L3-M357) was estimated using a set of 15 Y-specific STR loci. The observed haplogroup distribution suggests some degree of genetic isolation of the northern population, likely due to the Hindu Kush mountain range separating it from the southern Afghans who have had greater contact with neighboring Pathans from Pakistan and migrations from the Indian subcontinent. Our study demonstrates genetic similarities between Pathans from Afghanistan and Pakistan, both of which are characterized by the predominance of haplogroup R1a1a*-M198 (450%) and the sharing of the same modal haplotype. Furthermore, the high frequencies of R1a1a-M198 and the presence of G2c-M377 chromosomes in Pathans might represent phylogenetic signals from Khazars, a common link between Pathans and Ashkenazi groups, whereas the absence of E1b1b1a2-V13 lineage does not support their professed Greek ancestry.

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“…In addition, Jewish heritage recognizes three paternally inherited castes, Cohen, Levite and Israelite, of which the first two are considered priesthood lineages18212223. Levites comprise ~4% of the male Jewish population and display genetic evidence for multiple recent origins, with Ashkenazi Levites reported to carry a particularly high frequency (>50%) of a distinctive STR-based lineage nested within haplogroup R1a-M198 (refs 18, 24, 25). Previous studies have demonstrated that haplogroup R1a is rare in other Jewish castes, other Jewish communities and in non-Jewish groups of Near Eastern origin1821.…”

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confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic applications of whole Y-chromosome sequences and the Near Eastern origin of Ashkenazi Levites

et al. 2013

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Previous Y-chromosome studies have demonstrated that Ashkenazi Levites, members of a paternally inherited Jewish priestly caste, display a distinctive founder event within R1a, the most prevalent Y-chromosome haplogroup in Eastern Europe. Here we report the analysis of 16 whole R1 sequences and show that a set of 19 unique nucleotide substitutions defines the Ashkenazi R1a lineage. While our survey of one of these, M582, in 2,834 R1a samples reveals its absence in 922 Eastern Europeans, we show it is present in all sampled R1a Ashkenazi Levites, as well as in 33.8% of other R1a Ashkenazi Jewish males and 5.9% of 303 R1a Near Eastern males, where it shows considerably higher diversity. Moreover, the M582 lineage also occurs at low frequencies in non-Ashkenazi Jewish populations. In contrast to the previously suggested Eastern European origin for Ashkenazi Levites, the current data are indicative of a geographic source of the Levite founder lineage in the Near East and its likely presence among pre-Diaspora Hebrews.

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Y chromosome evidence for a founder effect in Ashkenazi Jews

Cited by 22 publications

References 17 publications

Phylogeographic analysis of paternal lineages in NE Portuguese Jewish communities

Phylogeographic analysis of paternal lineages in NE Portuguese Jewish communities

Afghanistan from a Y-chromosome perspective

Phylogenetic applications of whole Y-chromosome sequences and the Near Eastern origin of Ashkenazi Levites

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