Genetic studies on Jews
Encyclopedia
Genetic studies on the Jews are part of population genetics
. This discipline is used to better understand the chronology of migration and thus complements the results provided by history
, archeology, language
or paleontology
. The interest of these studies is to investigate the origins of various Jewish populations today. In particular, they investigate whether there is a common genetic heritage among various Jewish populations.
Y DNA
studies show various paternal lineages of modern Jewish populations. Such studies tend to imply a small number of founders in an old population whose members parted and followed different migration paths. These male lines ancestors appear to have been mainly Middle Eastern. For example, Ashkenazi Jews share more common paternal lineages with other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than with non-Jewish populations in areas where Jews lived in Eastern Europe
, Germany and the French Rhine Valley
. This is consistent with Jewish traditions in placing most Jewish paternal ancestry either in the region of Canaan
, or more generally in the Middle East
.
The maternal lineages of Jewish populations, studied by looking at mitochondrial DNA
, are generally more heterogeneous. But also concerning this type of DNA there are signs of a dominant contribution from a small number of founders. Most of the time, the geographical or ethnic origin of the maternal line founders is unclear or debatable.
Studies of autosomal DNA, which are a more complete way to judge genetic ancestry, show that the various Jewish populations tend to form relatively closely related groups, which have ancestry in common. For all non Middle-eastern Jewish populations, with the exception of Ethiopian
and Indian Jews, this shared component in the ancestry of different Jewish groups has been found to best match modern populations found in the Levant, near modern Israel and Lebanon. This common Jewish ancestry is complemented by significant but varying degrees of admixture with non-Jewish historical host populations. In the case of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Moroccan Jews, who are apparently closely related, the non-Jewish component is mainly southern European, and an especially close relationship to modern Italians has been remarked by some authors.
used. One explanation for these contradictions is that the variations associated with a locus are influenced by natural selection.
Since the late eighties and especially since the beginning of the century, geneticists have worked on the Y chromosome
(transmitted from father to son) and mitochondrial DNA
(transmitted from mother to child) have the characteristic to be transmitted in full (without recombination). It is therefore possible to trace the common ancestors of various peoples of the world and especially those of Jewish populations. Moreover, very recent studies have been conducted on a large number of genes homologous chromosomes or autosomes (all chromosomes except chromosomes X and Y).
Biologist Robert Pollack
stated in 2003 that one cannot determine the biological "Jewishness
" of an individual because "there are no DNA sequences common to all Jews and absent from all non-Jews". A 2009 study was able to genetically identify individuals with full or partial Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.
In 2000, M. Hammer et al. conducted a study on 1371 men and definitively established that part of the paternal gene pool
of Jewish communities in Europe, North Africa and Middle East came from a common Middle East ancestral population and suggested that most Jewish
communities remained relatively isolated communities compared to non-Jewish neighbor populations in areas where Jews lived in the Diaspora
.
In a study of Israeli and Palestinian Muslim Arabs, more than 70% of Jewish men and half of the Arab men whose DNA was studied inherited their Y chromosomes from the same paternal ancestors who lived in the region within the last few thousand years.
Approximately 30% to 40% of Jewish men are in the paternal line known as haplogroup J
This haplogroup was called Eu9/Eu10, Med or HG9
before 2002 and its sub-haplogroups. This Haplogroup is particularly present in the Middle East, Southern Europe, and Northern Africa. Furthermore, 15 to 30% are in haplogroup E1b1b(or E-M35) and its sub-haplogroups.
and eastern Europe
: the Rhine Valley
, France
, Germany
, Holland, Austria
, Hungary
, former Czechoslovakia
, Belarus
, Lithuania
, Poland
, Romania
, Russia
and Ukraine
. This excludes the Jews of southern Europe
(Balkans
, Iberia
and Italy
) and this also means that non Jews in these regions are outside the definitions used for estimating the genetic make-up of the ancestral "neighbor" or "host" populations of Ashkenazim. (Autosomal studies, discussed below, have more recently compared Ashkenazi to Italians and Greeks and found them to be genetically close.)
All relevant Y DNA studies have concluded that the majority of the paternal genetic heritage among Ashkenazim and other Jewish communities is similar to those found dominating Middle Eastern populations, and probably originated there. A smaller but still significant part of the Ashkenazi male line population is more likely to have originated from central and eastern European populations.
A study of haplotypes of the Y chromosome, published in 2000, addressed the paternal origins of Ashkenazi Jews. Hammer et al. confirmed that the Y chromosome
of some Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews contained mutations that are also common among Middle Eastern peoples, but uncommon in the general European population. This suggested that the male ancestors of the Ashkenazi Jews could be traced mostly to the Middle East. The proportion of male genetic admixture
in Ashkenazi Jews amounts to less than 0.5% per generation over an estimated 80 generations, with "relatively minor contribution of European Y chromosomes to the Ashkenazim," and a total admixture estimate "very similar to Motulsky's average estimate of 12.5%." However, when all haplotypes were included in the analysis, the admixture percentage increased to 23% ± 7%.The authors have chosen Bertorelle and Excoffier statical method. Two results has been obtained depending on the assumption of parental Jewish population and parental European population. For the first “admixture calculation” (12.5%) the putative original population is Med haplotype (equivalent to J haplogroup) and the parental European population is 1L haplotype (equivalent to R1b haplogroup). For the second “admixture calculation” (23%) the putative parental Jewish population is the haplotype frequencies average between North African, Near Eastern, Yemenite, and Kurdish Jewish samples and parental European population is the haplotype frequencies average between German, Austrian, and Russian samples. Besides, Motulsky's average estimate of 12.5% is based on 18 classical genetic markers. Hammer et al. add that "Diaspora Jews from Europe, Northwest Africa, and the Near East resemble each other more closely than they resemble their non-Jewish neighbors." In addition, of the Jewish populations, the Ashkenazim were closest to South European populations, specifically the Greeks.
Moreover, the frequency of haplogroup R1b in the Ashkenazim population is similar to the frequency of R1b in Middle Eastern populations, but given that haplogroup R1b is particularly abundant in populations of Western Europe, studies of Nebel et al. (2001) and Behar et al. (2004) suggest some Western European contribution to those ~10% of R1b found among Ashkenazim. The largest study made on Ashkenazi Jews, Behar et al. (2004) gives a percentage of 5% - 8% European contribution to the R1b and R1a pool among Ashkenazim.The calculation is performed using haplogroups J* and R1b1 to represent western European contribution, and R1a1 as a potential Eastern European contribution. In the words of Behar:
For G. Lucotte et al., the R1b frequency is about 11%.Lucotte uses a different method from that used by most researchers genetics since 2002, it is called RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism): TaqI/p49af. It is difficult to make a rapprochement with the haplogroups defined by the YCC. Both methods give similar results (see reported results given here) In 2004, When the calculation is made excluding Jews from Netherlands the R1b rate is 5% ± 11.6%.
Two studies by Nebel et al. in 2001 and 2005, based on Y chromosome polymorphic markers, showed that Ashkenazi Jews are more closely related to other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than to their host populations in Europe (defined in the using Eastern European, German, and French Rhine Valley populations). However, 11.5% of male Ashkenazim were found to belong to R1a1a (R-M17), the dominant Y chromosome haplogroup in Eastern European populations. They hypothesized that these chromosomes could reflect low-level gene flow from surrounding Eastern European populations, or, alternatively, that both the Ashkenazi Jews with R1a1a (R-M17), and to a much greater extent Eastern European populations in general, might partly be descendants of Khazars
. They concluded "However, if the R1a1a (R-M17) chromosomes in Ashkenazi Jews do indeed represent the vestiges of the mysterious Khazars then, according to our data, this contribution was limited to either a single founder or a few closely related men, and does not exceed ~12% of the present-day Ashkenazim.". This hypothesis is also supported by the D. Goldstein in his book Jacob's legacy: A genetic view of Jewish history. However, Faerman (2008) states that "External low-level gene flow of possible Eastern European origin has been shown in Ashkenazim but no evidence of a hypothetical Khazars’ contribution to the Ashkenazi gene pool has ever been found.".
Furthermore, 7% of Ashkenazi have the haplogroup G2c
, which is extremely rare in the rest of the human population. It seems to be present in a small percentage in the Pashtun
s in Afghanistan but the origin of this haplogroup is unknown. The haplogroup Q1b (Q-M378) is also rare in the rest of the human population. It is found in Hazara and Sindhi which are two nomadic tribes in Pakistan. It is also found in the Uyghurs
of North-Western China
. Behar et al. suggest that those haplogroups are minor Ashkenazi Jews founding lineages.
Among Ashkenazi Jews, Jews of Netherlands
seem to have a particular haplogroups distribution since nearly one quarter of them have the Haplogroup R1b1 (R-P25), in particular sub-haplogroup R1b1b2 (R-M269), which is characteristic of Western European populations.
Ashkenazi men show low Y-DNA diversity within each major haplogroup, meaning that compared to the size of the modern population, it seems there were once a relatively small number of men having children. This possibly results from a series of founder events
and high rates of endogamy
within Europe. Despite Ashkenazi Jews representing a recently founded population in Europe, their founding population probably derived from a large and diverse ancestral source population in the Near East
, a population that may have been larger than the source population from which European non-Jews derived.
Investigations made by Nebel et al. on the genetic relationships among Ashkenazi Jews, Kurdish and Sephardi (North Africa, Turkey, Iberian Peninsula
, Iraq and Syria) indicate that Jews are more genetically similar to groups in northern Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks and Armenians) than to Arabs.
The authors also compared the distribution of haplotypes of Jews from North Africa with Sephardi Jews and Ashkenazi Jews and found a common heritage but also significant differences, including the presence of two haplotypes mainly found in Africa. The first haplotype (V), mainly found in North Africa, has a proportion of 18.6% among Jews of North Africa. The authors emphasize that this haplotype appears in similar proportions among the Palestinians (15.9%) and the Lebanese (16.7%). It has a proportion of 3.1% among the Ashkenazi Jews. The second haplotype (IV), mainly found in sub-Saharan Africa, has a proportion of 8.4% among Jews of North Africa and is not found among the Ashkenazi Jews.
The Jewish community of the island of Djerba
in Tunisia
is of special interest, making the tradition back to the time of the destruction of the First Temple. Two studies have attempted to test this hypothesis first by G. Lucotte et al. from 1993, the second of F. Manni et al. of 2005. They also conclude that the Jews of Djerba's paternal gene pool is different from the Arab
s and Berbers of the island. For the first 77.5% of samples tested are of haplotype VIII (probably similar to the J haplogroup according Lucotte), the second shows that 100% of the samples are of Haplogroup J *. The second suggests that it is unlikely that the majority of this community comes from an ancient colonization of the island while for Lucotte it is unclear whether this
high frequency is really an ancient relationship.
These studies therefore suggest that the paternal lineage of North African Jews comes predominantly from the Middle East with a significant but minority contribution of African lineages, probably Berbers.
) showed that their paternal lines consisted of 28% of haplogroups R1b1b2-M269, which is prevalent in other Western Europe
an population and 53% lineages more typical of the Near East
(J1: 12%, J2-M172: 25% and T-M70: 16%) and consequently, the Portuguese Jews of this region were genetically closer to other Jewish populations than to Portuguese non-Jews.
significantly different from the Lebanese and Palestinian non-Jews, and the Ashkenazi are significantly different from the Oriental and Sephardi Jewish communities, Lucotte 2003
is similar to that of other Jewish populations.
(Ethiopian Jews) was close to the Ethiopian non-Jewish populations. This is consistent with the fact that Beta Israel are descendants of ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia, not the Middle East.
Hammer et al. in 2000 and the team of Shen in 2004 arrive at similar conclusions, namely a genetic differentiation in other people in the north of Ethiopia
, which probably indicates a conversion of local populations.
To test this hypothesis, he contacted Dr. Michael Hammer of the University of Arizona
, a researcher in molecular genetics and a pioneer in research on chromosome
. Their article, published in Nature
in 1997, has had some impact. A set of special markers (called Cohen Modal Haplotype or CMH) was indeed more likely to be present in the Cohanim, contemporary Jews named Cohen or a derivative, and this is supposed to descend from the ancient priestly lineage than in the Jewish population in general. A common origin had been strictly preserved for thousands of years.
However, subsequent studies showed that the number of genetic markers used and the number of samples (of people saying Cohen) were not big enough. The last study conducted in 2009 by Hammer and Behar et al. tells us that there is no single common haplogroup in all but 21 Cohen haplogroups, and 5 haplogroups are 79.5% of all haplogroups of Cohen. Among these first 5 haplogroups, (J-P58 * or J1E) accounts for 46.1% of Cohen and the second (J-M410 or J2a) of 14.4%. Hammer and Behar have redefined an extended MHC haplotype as determined by a set of 12 markers and having as "background" haplogroup determining the most important lines J1E (46.1%). This haplotype is absent among non-Jews in 2099 analyzed in the study. It appeared there would be a 3000 ± 1000 years. This study nevertheless confirms that the current Cohen descended from a small number of paternal ancestors.
Until 2006, geneticists attributed most often the origin of Jewish populations of male individuals who emigrated from the Middle East and taking women as wives in the indigenous populations, they converted to Judaism. However, more recent studies invited to review this claim.
On the other hand, it appears that a number of Jewish community a limited number of women are the source of much of these communities. This phenomenon is called the founder effect
. It is rare in non-Jewish communities.
(mtDNA), suggested that about 40% of the current Ashkenazi population is descended matrilineally from just four women, or "founder lineages", that were "likely from a Hebrew
/Levant
ine mtDNA pool" originating in the Middle East in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Moreover, a maternal line "sister" was found among the Jews of North Africa, France, Italy, and Portugal:
Another study done in 2007 by J. Feder et al. confirms the hypothesis of the founding of non-local origin, though their study didn't deal with the geographical origin of Ashkenazim and therefore does not explicitly confirm the origin "Levantine" of these founders. This study revealed a significant divergence in total haplogroup distribution between the Ashkenazi Jewish populations and their European host population, namely Russians, Poles and Germans, concluding that regarding mtDNAs, the differences between Jews and non-Jews are far larger than those observed among the Jewish communities. The study also found that "the differences between the Jewish communities can be overlooked when non-Jews are included in the comparisons", and supported previous interpretations of "little or no gene flow from the local non-Jewish communities in Poland and Russia to the Jewish communities in these countries".
s of the mitochondrial DNA haplogroups (M1 and U6), which are typical of the North African of Berber and Arab populations. Similarly, while the frequency of haplogroups L, associated with sub-Saharan Africa
, are around an average of 20–25% at the Berber populations studied, it is only 1.3%, 2.7% and 3.6% respectively among Jews from Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.
Behar et al. conclude that it is unlikely that North African Jews, have significant Arab, or Berber admixture, "consistent with social restrictions imposed by religious restrictions". This study also found genetic similarities between the Ashkenazi and North African Jewish mitochondrial DNA pools, but differences between both of these and Jews from the Middle East. Instead, the study that about 40% of Libya's Jews are descendants of one woman along their maternal lines and that 43% of Tunisian Jews descended from 4 women along their maternal lines.
The Jewish population of Yemen has also a founder effect. 42% of maternal lines come from 5 women originating in western Asia for 4 of them and sub-Saharan Africa for the last.
Iranian or Italian.
An initial study conducted in 2001 by N. Rosenberg et al. on six Jewish populations (Poland, Libya, Ethiopia, Iraq, Morocco, Yemen) and two non-Jewish populations (Palestinians and Druze) shows that while the eight groups are close, the Jews of Libya have a genetic signature separate from their genetic isolation and a possible combination with Berber populations."This population has a unique history among North African Jewish communities, including an early founding, a harsh bottleneck, possible admixture with local Berbers, limited contact with other Jewish communities, and small size in the recent past" (Rosenberg 2001) This same study suggests a close relationship between Jews of Yemen and those of Ethiopia.
A 2006 study by Seldin et al. used over five thousand autosomal SNPs to demonstrate European genetic substructure. The results showed “a consistent and reproducible distinction between ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ European population groups”. Most northern, central, and eastern Europeans (Finns, Swedes, English, Irish, Germans, and Ukrainians) showed >90% in the ‘northern’ population group, while most individual participants with southern European ancestry (Italians, Greeks, Portuguese, Spaniards) showed >85% in the 'southern' group. Both Ashkenazi Jews as well as Sephardic Jews showed >85% membership in the “southern” group. Referring to the Jews clustering with southern Europeans, the authors state the results were "consistent with a later Mediterranean origin of these ethnic groups".
A 2007 study by Bauchet et al. found that Ashkenazi Jews were most closely clustered with Arabic North African populations when compared to Global population, and in the European structure analysis, they share genetic similarities with Greeks and Southern Italians, reflecting their east Mediterranean origins.
In a 2009 study by Kopelman et al., Ashkenazi Jews, Turks, Moroccans and Tunisians, share a common origin from the Middle East and are quite close to Palestinians. However, in this study, the Tunisian Jews are distinct from three other Jewish populations, which might tend to suggest, according to the authors, a greater genetic isolation and/or a significant contribution of local Berber as in the case of Libyan Jews. In this study, the authors also state, on the hypothesis of the origin of Ashkenazi Jews, that they did not detect differences between Ashkenazi Jews and other Jewish populations. Nonetheless, they detected a similarity between the Adyghe people
(a group of Caucasus whose land was formerly occupied by the Khazars) and Jewish populations studied, as was observed by Need et al. in another study. In conclusion, the authors of this study found that "different Jewish population groups show a high level of genetic similarity to each other, clustering together in several types of analysis of population structure." The authors explained this similarity as a result of a shared ancestry with an ancestral Middle Eastern group
Another study of L. Hao et al. (October 2009) studied seven groups of Jewish populations with different geographic origin (Ashkenazi, Italians, Greeks, Turks, Iranians, Iraqis and Syrians) showed that the individuals all shared a Middle Eastern background in common, although they were also genetically distinguishable from each other. This distinction, it was once again suggested, reflects mixtures with different local populations. Thus, among the Jewish populations studied, the authors detected a European contribution ranging from 30% to 60% among Syrian Jews, Sephardim and Ashkenazim, which was virtually absent in the Iranian and Iraqi Jews. The same authors (Atzmon et al. June 2010) demonstrated that European/Syrian and Middle Eastern Jews represent a series of geographical isolates or clusters woven together by shared IBD (identity by descent) genetic threads. Each of the groups in the study demonstrated Middle Eastern ancestry as Middle Eastern Jews and European/Syrian Jews seems to share common ancestors in the Middle East about 2500 years ago. The study examines genetic markers spread across the entire genome and shows that the Jewish groups (Ashkenazi and non Ashkenazi) share large swaths of DNA, indicating close relationships and that each of the Jewish groups that were studied (Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Italian, Turkish, Greek and Ashkenazi) has its own genetic signature but is more closely related to the other Jewish groups than to non-Jewish groups. The study also found that with respect to non-Jewish European groups, the population most closely related to Ashkenazi and Syrian Jews are modern-day Italians. The study speculated that the genetic-similarity between Ashkenazi/Syrian Jews and Italians may be due to inter-marriage and conversions in the time of the Roman Empire. It was also found that any two Ashkenazi Jewish participants in the study shared about as much DNA as fourth or fifth cousinsHarry Ostrer
, the director of the Human Genetics Program at NYU Langone Medical Center, and one of the author of this study, concluded "We have shown that Jewishness can be identified through genetic analysis, so the notion of a Jewish people is plausible. "Dr. Ostrer noted, "The study supports the idea of a Jewish people linked by a shared genetic history".
In addition, the genetic proximity of European/Syrian Jewish populations, including Ashkenazi Jews, to each other and to French, Northern Italian, and Sardinian populations favors the idea of possible non-Semitic Mediterranean contribution in the formation of the European/Syrian Jewish groups and is incompatible with theories that Ashkenazi Jews are for the most part the direct lineal descendants of converted Khazars or Slavs. It refutes large-scale genetic contributions of Central and Eastern European and Slavic populations to the formation of Ashkenazi Jewry. Other authors have previously shown the genetic proximity between Ashkenazi and Southern European population (Cf. table below and discussion above).
The Iranian and Iraqi Jews are the most differentiated with the greatest genetic distances from the other populations and the least distances from each other. They have a high coefficient of inbreeding. A certain degree of admixture may have occurred with local populations.
In June 2010, Behar et al. "shows that most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight subcluster that overlies Druze and Cypriot samples but not samples from other Levantine populations or paired Diaspora host populations. In contrast, Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) and Indian Jews (Bene Israel and Cochini) cluster with neighbouring autochthonous populations in Ethiopia and western India, respectively, despite a clear paternal link between the Bene Israel and the Levant.". "The most parsimonious explanation for these observations is a common genetic origin, which is consistent with an historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant."
In July 2010 Bray's et al. using SNP
microarray
techniques and linkage analysis "confirms that there is a closer relationship between the Ashkenazim and several European populations (Tuscans, Italians, and French) than between the Ashkenazim and Middle Eastern populations" and that European "admixture is considerably higher than previous estimates by studies that used the Y chromosome" adding that their study "support the model of a Middle Eastern origin of the Ashkenazim population followed by subsequent admixture with host Europeans or populations more similar to Europeans" and that their data imply that modern Ashkenazi Jews are perhaps even more similar with Europeans than modern Middle Easterners. The level of admixture with European population was estimated between 35 to 55%. The study assumed Druze
and Palestinian Arabs populations to represent the reference to world Jewry ancestor genome. With this reference point, the linkage disequilibrium in the Ashkenazi Jewish population was interpreted as "matches signs of interbreeding or 'admixture' between Middle Eastern and European populations". Also, in their press release, Bray stated: "We were surprised to find evidence that Ashkenazi Jews have higher heterozygosity than Europeans, contradicting the widely-held presumption that they have been a largely isolated group". Nevertheless, the authors indicated that possible Achilles' heel for their conclusions is that their calculations might have "overestimated the level of admixture" in case that the true Jewish ancestors were genetically closer to Southern Europeans than Druze and Palestinian Arabs are and predicted that using the non Ashkenazi Jewish Diaspora populations as reference for world Jewry ancestor genome would "underestimate the level of admixture", since they find it reasonable that the non Ashkenazi Jewish Diaspora has also "undergone the similar admixture" compared to Ashkenazi Jews.
Zoossmann-Diskin (2010) is critical of the interpretations made by other authors of autosomal DNA data from Jewish populations. He argues that based upon X chromosome and autosomal DNA evidence, Eastern European Jewish populations and Jewish populations from Iran, Iraq and Yemen, do not have the same genetic origins. In particular, concerning Eastern European Jews, he believes the evidence points to a dominant amount of southern European, and specifically Italian, ancestry, which he argues is probably a result of conversions during the Roman empire. Concerning the similarity between Sephardi and Ashkenazi, he argues that the reasons are uncertain, but that it is likely to be caused by Sephardic Jews having "Mediterranean" ancestry also, like the Ashkenazi. Concerning mitochondrial DNA, and particularly Y DNA, he accepts that there are superficial signs of a Middle Eastern origins, but he argues that this can be ignored as it is may came from a small number of ancestors.
In 2011, Moorjani et al. show to have detected 3%–5% sub-Saharan African ancestry in all eight of the diverse Jewish populations (Ashkenazim, Syrian Jews, Iranian Jews, Iraqi Jews, Greek Jews, Turkey Jews, Italian Jews) that they analyzed. Researchers from the Harvard Medical School estimate that the exchange of genes occurred approximately 72 generations ago (or about 2,000 years). Lawrence Schiffman, professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at Yeshiva University, believes the intermixing may have occurred during the Hellenistic period (c. 320–30 B.C.E.), when Jewish communities were resident in many North African coastal cities, or during the First Temple period (c. 950–600 B.C.E.), when the Israelite kings, including Solomon, had trade relationships with Africa.
and Manasseh
(two tribes from the Tribe of Joseph
) living in the Kingdom of Israel before its destruction in 722 BC. For them, the Jews are the descendants of the Israelites from ancient southern kingdom of Judah (and Jerusalem).
A 2004 study by Shen et al. compared the Y-DNA and DNA-mt Samaritans of 12 men with those of 158 men who were not Samaritans, divided between 6 Jewish populations (Ashkenazi origin, Moroccan, Libyan, Ethiopian, Iraqi and Yemeni) and 2 non-Jewish populations from Israel (Druze
and Arab). The study concludes that significant similarities exist between paternal lines of Jews and Samaritans, but the maternal lines differ between the two populations. The pair-wise genetic distances (Fst) between 11 populations from AMOVA applied to the Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial data. For the Y-chromosome, all Jewish groups, except for the Ethiopians, are closely related to each other. They do not differ significantly from Samaritans (0.041) and Druze (0.033), but are different from Palestinians (0.163), Africans (0.219), and Europeans (0.111). Nevertheless, the data in this study indicated that the Samaritan and Jewish Y-chromosomes have a greater affinity than do those of the Samaritans and their geographical neighbors, the Palestinians.
s clans are scattered among the Bantu-speaking tribes in Zimbabwe and northern South Africa. The oral tradition traces the origin of the Jewish Lembas Saana in Yemen. Some practices reminiscent of Jewish practices (circumcision, food law,…). Two studies have attempted to determine the paternal origin of these tribes. The first by A. Spurdle and T. Jenkins dates from 1996 and suggests that more than half of Lembas tested are of Semitic origin.The authors used a method RFLP of 49 individuals Lembas (Spurdle et al. 1996) The second study by Mark G. Thomas et al. dates from 2000 and also suggests that part of Lembas have a Semitic origin that can come from a mixture of Arab and Jewish.The authors 6 STR markers tested on 136 male Lembas (Thomas et al. 2000) In addition, the authors show that clans Lemba (Buba clan) has a large proportion of the former CMH
.
Population genetics
Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...
. This discipline is used to better understand the chronology of migration and thus complements the results provided by history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, archeology, language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
or paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
. The interest of these studies is to investigate the origins of various Jewish populations today. In particular, they investigate whether there is a common genetic heritage among various Jewish populations.
Y DNA
Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes in most mammals, including humans. In mammals, it contains the gene SRY, which triggers testis development if present. The human Y chromosome is composed of about 60 million base pairs...
studies show various paternal lineages of modern Jewish populations. Such studies tend to imply a small number of founders in an old population whose members parted and followed different migration paths. These male lines ancestors appear to have been mainly Middle Eastern. For example, Ashkenazi Jews share more common paternal lineages with other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than with non-Jewish populations in areas where Jews lived in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, Germany and the French Rhine Valley
Rhine Valley
The Rhine Valley is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the Alpine Rhine , i.e. the section of the Rhine River between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and its mouth at Lake Constance....
. This is consistent with Jewish traditions in placing most Jewish paternal ancestry either in the region of Canaan
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
, or more generally in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
.
The maternal lineages of Jewish populations, studied by looking at mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
, are generally more heterogeneous. But also concerning this type of DNA there are signs of a dominant contribution from a small number of founders. Most of the time, the geographical or ethnic origin of the maternal line founders is unclear or debatable.
Studies of autosomal DNA, which are a more complete way to judge genetic ancestry, show that the various Jewish populations tend to form relatively closely related groups, which have ancestry in common. For all non Middle-eastern Jewish populations, with the exception of Ethiopian
Beta Israel
Beta Israel Israel, Ge'ez: ቤተ እስራኤል - Bēta 'Isrā'ēl, modern Bēte 'Isrā'ēl, EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "Community of Israel" also known as Ethiopian Jews , are the names of Jewish communities which lived in the area of Aksumite and Ethiopian Empires , nowadays divided between Amhara and Tigray...
and Indian Jews, this shared component in the ancestry of different Jewish groups has been found to best match modern populations found in the Levant, near modern Israel and Lebanon. This common Jewish ancestry is complemented by significant but varying degrees of admixture with non-Jewish historical host populations. In the case of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Moroccan Jews, who are apparently closely related, the non-Jewish component is mainly southern European, and an especially close relationship to modern Italians has been remarked by some authors.
Background
Since the 1970s, many studies have attempted to determine whether, despite the complex history of migrations, it is possible to find common ancestors to the present Jewish communities or if they are rather related to non-Jewish populations who hosted them. The earlier studies attempted to answer this question using "classic" genetic markers (blood groups, enzymes, etc.). Contradictory answers were given according to locusLocus (genetics)
In the fields of genetics and genetic computation, a locus is the specific location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome. A variant of the DNA sequence at a given locus is called an allele. The ordered list of loci known for a particular genome is called a genetic map...
used. One explanation for these contradictions is that the variations associated with a locus are influenced by natural selection.
Since the late eighties and especially since the beginning of the century, geneticists have worked on the Y chromosome
Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes in most mammals, including humans. In mammals, it contains the gene SRY, which triggers testis development if present. The human Y chromosome is composed of about 60 million base pairs...
(transmitted from father to son) and mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial Eve
In the field of human genetics, Mitochondrial Eve refers to the matrilineal "MRCA" . In other words, she was the woman from whom all living humans today descend, on their mother's side, and through the mothers of those mothers and so on, back until all lines converge on one person...
(transmitted from mother to child) have the characteristic to be transmitted in full (without recombination). It is therefore possible to trace the common ancestors of various peoples of the world and especially those of Jewish populations. Moreover, very recent studies have been conducted on a large number of genes homologous chromosomes or autosomes (all chromosomes except chromosomes X and Y).
Biologist Robert Pollack
Robert Pollack (biologist)
Dr. Robert Pollack is an American biologist who studies the intersections between science and religion. He currently works at Columbia University, where he serves as the director of the university's Center for the Study of Science and Religion and lectures for its Center for Psychoanalytic Training...
stated in 2003 that one cannot determine the biological "Jewishness
Jewish identity
Jewish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Under the broader definition, the Jewish identity does not depend on whether or not a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, or legal, or...
" of an individual because "there are no DNA sequences common to all Jews and absent from all non-Jews". A 2009 study was able to genetically identify individuals with full or partial Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.
Paternal lineage, Y chromosome
The first to have shown the existence of a common paternal genetic heritage between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews are G. Lucotte and F. David in 1992. In 1993, A. S. Santachiara Benerecetti et al. have suggested the Middle Eastern origin of Jewish paternal lineages.In 2000, M. Hammer et al. conducted a study on 1371 men and definitively established that part of the paternal gene pool
Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes in most mammals, including humans. In mammals, it contains the gene SRY, which triggers testis development if present. The human Y chromosome is composed of about 60 million base pairs...
of Jewish communities in Europe, North Africa and Middle East came from a common Middle East ancestral population and suggested that most Jewish
communities remained relatively isolated communities compared to non-Jewish neighbor populations in areas where Jews lived in the Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
.
In a study of Israeli and Palestinian Muslim Arabs, more than 70% of Jewish men and half of the Arab men whose DNA was studied inherited their Y chromosomes from the same paternal ancestors who lived in the region within the last few thousand years.
Approximately 30% to 40% of Jewish men are in the paternal line known as haplogroup J
Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)
In human genetics, Haplogroup J is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is one of the major male lines of all living men...
This haplogroup was called Eu9/Eu10, Med or HG9
Conversion table for Y chromosome haplogroups
Y chromosome haplogroups are a frequent topic of discussion in human population genetics and genetic genealogy. Men in the same Y DNA haplogroup share a set of differences, or markers, on their Y chromosome, which distinguish them from men in other haplogroups. Often these UEPs, or markers used to...
before 2002 and its sub-haplogroups. This Haplogroup is particularly present in the Middle East, Southern Europe, and Northern Africa. Furthermore, 15 to 30% are in haplogroup E1b1b(or E-M35) and its sub-haplogroups.
Y-DNA of Ashkenazi Jews
The term "Ashkenazi" is relatively well defined in these studies, it refers to Jews living or whose "paternal" ancestors lived in the following parts of centralCentral Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
: the Rhine Valley
Rhine Valley
The Rhine Valley is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the Alpine Rhine , i.e. the section of the Rhine River between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and its mouth at Lake Constance....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Holland, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, former Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. This excludes the Jews of southern Europe
Southern Europe
The term Southern Europe, at its most general definition, is used to mean "all countries in the south of Europe". However, the concept, at different times, has had different meanings, providing additional political, linguistic and cultural context to the definition in addition to the typical...
(Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, Iberia
Iberia
The name Iberia refers to three historical regions of the old world:* Iberian Peninsula, in Southwest Europe, location of modern-day Portugal and Spain** Prehistoric Iberia...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) and this also means that non Jews in these regions are outside the definitions used for estimating the genetic make-up of the ancestral "neighbor" or "host" populations of Ashkenazim. (Autosomal studies, discussed below, have more recently compared Ashkenazi to Italians and Greeks and found them to be genetically close.)
All relevant Y DNA studies have concluded that the majority of the paternal genetic heritage among Ashkenazim and other Jewish communities is similar to those found dominating Middle Eastern populations, and probably originated there. A smaller but still significant part of the Ashkenazi male line population is more likely to have originated from central and eastern European populations.
A study of haplotypes of the Y chromosome, published in 2000, addressed the paternal origins of Ashkenazi Jews. Hammer et al. confirmed that the Y chromosome
Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes in most mammals, including humans. In mammals, it contains the gene SRY, which triggers testis development if present. The human Y chromosome is composed of about 60 million base pairs...
of some Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews contained mutations that are also common among Middle Eastern peoples, but uncommon in the general European population. This suggested that the male ancestors of the Ashkenazi Jews could be traced mostly to the Middle East. The proportion of male genetic admixture
Genetic admixture
Genetic admixture occurs when individuals from two or more previously separated populations begin interbreeding. Admixture results in the introduction of new genetic lineages into a population. It has been known to slow local adaptation by introducing foreign, unadapted genotypes...
in Ashkenazi Jews amounts to less than 0.5% per generation over an estimated 80 generations, with "relatively minor contribution of European Y chromosomes to the Ashkenazim," and a total admixture estimate "very similar to Motulsky's average estimate of 12.5%." However, when all haplotypes were included in the analysis, the admixture percentage increased to 23% ± 7%.The authors have chosen Bertorelle and Excoffier statical method. Two results has been obtained depending on the assumption of parental Jewish population and parental European population. For the first “admixture calculation” (12.5%) the putative original population is Med haplotype (equivalent to J haplogroup) and the parental European population is 1L haplotype (equivalent to R1b haplogroup). For the second “admixture calculation” (23%) the putative parental Jewish population is the haplotype frequencies average between North African, Near Eastern, Yemenite, and Kurdish Jewish samples and parental European population is the haplotype frequencies average between German, Austrian, and Russian samples. Besides, Motulsky's average estimate of 12.5% is based on 18 classical genetic markers. Hammer et al. add that "Diaspora Jews from Europe, Northwest Africa, and the Near East resemble each other more closely than they resemble their non-Jewish neighbors." In addition, of the Jewish populations, the Ashkenazim were closest to South European populations, specifically the Greeks.
Moreover, the frequency of haplogroup R1b in the Ashkenazim population is similar to the frequency of R1b in Middle Eastern populations, but given that haplogroup R1b is particularly abundant in populations of Western Europe, studies of Nebel et al. (2001) and Behar et al. (2004) suggest some Western European contribution to those ~10% of R1b found among Ashkenazim. The largest study made on Ashkenazi Jews, Behar et al. (2004) gives a percentage of 5% - 8% European contribution to the R1b and R1a pool among Ashkenazim.The calculation is performed using haplogroups J* and R1b1 to represent western European contribution, and R1a1 as a potential Eastern European contribution. In the words of Behar:
Because haplogroups R-M17 (R1a) and R-P25 (R1b) are present in non-Ashkenazi Jewish populations
(e.g., at 4% and 10%, respectively) and in non-Jewish Near Eastern populations (e.g., at 7% and
11%, respectively; Hammer et al. 2000; Nebel et al. 2001), it is likely that they were also
present at low frequency in the AJ founding population. The admixture analysis shown in Table 6
suggests that 5%–8% of the Ashkenazi gene pool is, indeed, Y chromosomes that may have introgressed from non-Jewish European populations.
For G. Lucotte et al., the R1b frequency is about 11%.Lucotte uses a different method from that used by most researchers genetics since 2002, it is called RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism): TaqI/p49af. It is difficult to make a rapprochement with the haplogroups defined by the YCC. Both methods give similar results (see reported results given here) In 2004, When the calculation is made excluding Jews from Netherlands the R1b rate is 5% ± 11.6%.
Two studies by Nebel et al. in 2001 and 2005, based on Y chromosome polymorphic markers, showed that Ashkenazi Jews are more closely related to other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than to their host populations in Europe (defined in the using Eastern European, German, and French Rhine Valley populations). However, 11.5% of male Ashkenazim were found to belong to R1a1a (R-M17), the dominant Y chromosome haplogroup in Eastern European populations. They hypothesized that these chromosomes could reflect low-level gene flow from surrounding Eastern European populations, or, alternatively, that both the Ashkenazi Jews with R1a1a (R-M17), and to a much greater extent Eastern European populations in general, might partly be descendants of Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
. They concluded "However, if the R1a1a (R-M17) chromosomes in Ashkenazi Jews do indeed represent the vestiges of the mysterious Khazars then, according to our data, this contribution was limited to either a single founder or a few closely related men, and does not exceed ~12% of the present-day Ashkenazim.". This hypothesis is also supported by the D. Goldstein in his book Jacob's legacy: A genetic view of Jewish history. However, Faerman (2008) states that "External low-level gene flow of possible Eastern European origin has been shown in Ashkenazim but no evidence of a hypothetical Khazars’ contribution to the Ashkenazi gene pool has ever been found.".
Furthermore, 7% of Ashkenazi have the haplogroup G2c
Haplogroup G2c (Y-DNA)
In human genetics, Haplogroup G2c is a Y-chromosome haplogroup and is defined by the presence of the M377 mutation. It is a branch of Haplogroup G, which in turn is defined by the presence of the M201 mutation....
, which is extremely rare in the rest of the human population. It seems to be present in a small percentage in the Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
s in Afghanistan but the origin of this haplogroup is unknown. The haplogroup Q1b (Q-M378) is also rare in the rest of the human population. It is found in Hazara and Sindhi which are two nomadic tribes in Pakistan. It is also found in the Uyghurs
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
of North-Western China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Behar et al. suggest that those haplogroups are minor Ashkenazi Jews founding lineages.
Among Ashkenazi Jews, Jews of Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
seem to have a particular haplogroups distribution since nearly one quarter of them have the Haplogroup R1b1 (R-P25), in particular sub-haplogroup R1b1b2 (R-M269), which is characteristic of Western European populations.
Ashkenazi men show low Y-DNA diversity within each major haplogroup, meaning that compared to the size of the modern population, it seems there were once a relatively small number of men having children. This possibly results from a series of founder events
Founder effect
In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1942, using existing theoretical work by those such as Sewall...
and high rates of endogamy
Endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...
within Europe. Despite Ashkenazi Jews representing a recently founded population in Europe, their founding population probably derived from a large and diverse ancestral source population in the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
, a population that may have been larger than the source population from which European non-Jews derived.
| E1b1b1 (M35) | G (M201) | J1 or J* (12f2b) | J2 (M172) | Q1 (P36) | R1a1a (M17) | R1b1 (P25) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample number | E1b1b1a (M78) | E1b1b1c (M123) | G2c (M377) | J1 (M267) | J* | J2a* (M410) | J2a1b (M67) | Q1b (M378) | R1b1b2 (M269) | R1b1* (P25) | ||
| Behar 2004 | 442 | 16.1% | 7.7% | 19% | 19% | 5.2% | 7.5% | 10% | ||||
| Semino 2004 | ~80 | 5.2% | 11.7% | Not tested | 14.6% | 12.2% | 9.8% | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | ||
| Hammer 2009 | largeThe study as been carried out on 1,575 Jews representative of the Diaspora. The authors give the haplogroup distribution without the proportion of Ashkenazi/non-Ashkenazi | ~3% | ~17% | ~7% | ~17% | ~6% | ~14% | ~7% | Not given | ~9% | ~2% | |
| Nebel 2001 | 79 | 23% | ? | 24% | 19% | ? | 12.7% | 11.4% | ||||
| Shen 2004 | 20 | 10% | 10% | 5% | 20% | 5% | 15% | 5% | 20% | 10% | ||
Y-DNA of Sephardi Jews
The term "Sephardi" refers to significantly different populations from one study to another. It can have a very restrictive meaning and only referring to people speaking Judeo-Spanish (excluding Moroccan Jews) or at the opposite the term Sephardi may designate all non-Ashkenazi populations (excluding Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen and the Kurdish Jews). Between these two extremes, all kinds of variations exist.Investigations made by Nebel et al. on the genetic relationships among Ashkenazi Jews, Kurdish and Sephardi (North Africa, Turkey, Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, Iraq and Syria) indicate that Jews are more genetically similar to groups in northern Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks and Armenians) than to Arabs.
Y-DNA of Jews from North Africa
The largest study to date on the Jews of North Africa has been led by Gerard Lucotte et al. in 2003. This study showed that the Jews of North AfricaSephardi population studied is as follows: 58 Jews from Algeria, 190 Morocco, Tunisia 64, 49 of the island of Djerba 9 of 11 from Libya and Egypt is 381 people (Lucotte 2003) showed frequencies of their paternal haplotypes almost equal to those of the Lebanese and Palestinian non-Jews.The authors also compared the distribution of haplotypes of Jews from North Africa with Sephardi Jews and Ashkenazi Jews and found a common heritage but also significant differences, including the presence of two haplotypes mainly found in Africa. The first haplotype (V), mainly found in North Africa, has a proportion of 18.6% among Jews of North Africa. The authors emphasize that this haplotype appears in similar proportions among the Palestinians (15.9%) and the Lebanese (16.7%). It has a proportion of 3.1% among the Ashkenazi Jews. The second haplotype (IV), mainly found in sub-Saharan Africa, has a proportion of 8.4% among Jews of North Africa and is not found among the Ashkenazi Jews.
The Jewish community of the island of Djerba
Djerba
Djerba , also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is, at 514 km², the largest island of North Africa, located in the Gulf of Gabes, off the coast of Tunisia.-Description:...
in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
is of special interest, making the tradition back to the time of the destruction of the First Temple. Two studies have attempted to test this hypothesis first by G. Lucotte et al. from 1993, the second of F. Manni et al. of 2005. They also conclude that the Jews of Djerba's paternal gene pool is different from the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s and Berbers of the island. For the first 77.5% of samples tested are of haplotype VIII (probably similar to the J haplogroup according Lucotte), the second shows that 100% of the samples are of Haplogroup J *. The second suggests that it is unlikely that the majority of this community comes from an ancient colonization of the island while for Lucotte it is unclear whether this
high frequency is really an ancient relationship.
These studies therefore suggest that the paternal lineage of North African Jews comes predominantly from the Middle East with a significant but minority contribution of African lineages, probably Berbers.
Y-DNA of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula
A recent study by Inês Nogueiro et al. (July 2009) on the Jews of north-eastern Portugal (region of Trás-os-MontesTrás-os-Montes (region)
Trás-os-Montes was one of the 13 regions of continental Portugal identified by geographer Amorim Girão, in a study published between 1927 and 1930.Together with Alto Douro it formed Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Province.- See also :...
) showed that their paternal lines consisted of 28% of haplogroups R1b1b2-M269, which is prevalent in other Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an population and 53% lineages more typical of the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
(J1: 12%, J2-M172: 25% and T-M70: 16%) and consequently, the Portuguese Jews of this region were genetically closer to other Jewish populations than to Portuguese non-Jews.
| N | E-M78 | E-M81 | E-M34 | G | I | J1 | J2 | T | R1a | R1b1b1 | R1b1b1b2 |
| 57 | 3.5% | 5.2% | 0% | 3.5% | 3.5% | 12.3% | 24.5% | 15.8% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 28.1% |
Y-DNA of Oriental Jews
Furthermore, Lucotte et al. show that Oriental Jews (Turkey – 19, Greece – 10 Iraq – 12 Iran – 12, Syria – 3) have a similar distribution of haplotypes, but with significant differences in the Lebanese and Palestinian non-Jews.The Oriental and Ashkenazi Jews aresignificantly different from the Lebanese and Palestinian non-Jews, and the Ashkenazi are significantly different from the Oriental and Sephardi Jewish communities, Lucotte 2003
Y-DNA of Roman Jews
The Roman Jews are as their name suggests Jews were distinguished as originating in Rome, Italy. Mr. Hammer et al. show their paternal lines are close to those of Ashkenazi Jews.Y-DNA of Kurdish Jews
In the article by Nebel et al. the authors show that Kurdish and Sephardi Jews have paternal genetic heritage indistinguishable. The study shows that mixtures between Kurdish Jews and their Muslim hosts are negligible. Mr. Hammer had already shown the strong correlation between the genetic heritage of Jews from North Africa with their fellow Kurds.Y-DNA of the Jews of Yemen
The studies of Shen and Hammer et al. show that the genetic father of Yemenite JewsYemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen . Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet...
is similar to that of other Jewish populations.
Y-DNA of Jews from Ethiopia
A study of Lucotte and Smets has shown that the genetic father of Beta IsraelBeta Israel
Beta Israel Israel, Ge'ez: ቤተ እስራኤል - Bēta 'Isrā'ēl, modern Bēte 'Isrā'ēl, EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "Community of Israel" also known as Ethiopian Jews , are the names of Jewish communities which lived in the area of Aksumite and Ethiopian Empires , nowadays divided between Amhara and Tigray...
(Ethiopian Jews) was close to the Ethiopian non-Jewish populations. This is consistent with the fact that Beta Israel are descendants of ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia, not the Middle East.
Hammer et al. in 2000 and the team of Shen in 2004 arrive at similar conclusions, namely a genetic differentiation in other people in the north of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, which probably indicates a conversion of local populations.
Cohanim
Dr. Karl Skorecki, a Canadian nephrologist of Ashkenazi origin, remarked that a man who was a Sephardi Cohen like he was had completely different physical characteristics. According to Jewish tradition, all the Cohanim are descendants of the priest Aaron, brother of Moses. Skorecki suggested that if the Cohanim were indeed the descendants of one man, they should have a set of common genetic markers.To test this hypothesis, he contacted Dr. Michael Hammer of the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
, a researcher in molecular genetics and a pioneer in research on chromosome
Chromosome
A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...
. Their article, published in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
in 1997, has had some impact. A set of special markers (called Cohen Modal Haplotype or CMH) was indeed more likely to be present in the Cohanim, contemporary Jews named Cohen or a derivative, and this is supposed to descend from the ancient priestly lineage than in the Jewish population in general. A common origin had been strictly preserved for thousands of years.
However, subsequent studies showed that the number of genetic markers used and the number of samples (of people saying Cohen) were not big enough. The last study conducted in 2009 by Hammer and Behar et al. tells us that there is no single common haplogroup in all but 21 Cohen haplogroups, and 5 haplogroups are 79.5% of all haplogroups of Cohen. Among these first 5 haplogroups, (J-P58 * or J1E) accounts for 46.1% of Cohen and the second (J-M410 or J2a) of 14.4%. Hammer and Behar have redefined an extended MHC haplotype as determined by a set of 12 markers and having as "background" haplogroup determining the most important lines J1E (46.1%). This haplotype is absent among non-Jews in 2099 analyzed in the study. It appeared there would be a 3000 ± 1000 years. This study nevertheless confirms that the current Cohen descended from a small number of paternal ancestors.
Levites
A 2003 study of the Y-chromosome by Behar et al. points to multiple origins for Ashkenazi Levites, a priestly class who comprise approximately 4% of Ashkenazi Jews. It found that Haplogroup R1a1a (R-M17), which is uncommon in the Middle East or among Sephardi Jews, but dominant in Eastern Europe, is present in over 50% of Ashkenazi Levites, while the rest of Ashkenazi Levites' paternal lineage is of apparent Middle Eastern origin. Behar suggested a founding event, probably involving one or very few European men, occurring at a time close to the initial formation and settlement of the Ashkenazi community as a possible explanation. Nebel, Behar and Goldstein speculate that this may indicate a Khazar origin.Maternal line: Mitochondrial DNA
Studies of mitochondrial DNA of Jewish populations are more recent and are still debatable. However, it seems that there is no maternal lines common to all Jewish people.Until 2006, geneticists attributed most often the origin of Jewish populations of male individuals who emigrated from the Middle East and taking women as wives in the indigenous populations, they converted to Judaism. However, more recent studies invited to review this claim.
On the other hand, it appears that a number of Jewish community a limited number of women are the source of much of these communities. This phenomenon is called the founder effect
Founder effect
In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1942, using existing theoretical work by those such as Sewall...
. It is rare in non-Jewish communities.
Mt-DNA of Ashkenazi Jews
A 2006 study by Behar et al., based on high-resolution analysis of Haplogroup KHaplogroup K (mtDNA)
In human mitochondrial genetics, Haplogroup K is a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup, defined by HVR1 mutations 16224C and 16311C.-Origin:It is the most common subclade of haplogroup U8, and it has an estimated age of c. 12,000 years BP....
(mtDNA), suggested that about 40% of the current Ashkenazi population is descended matrilineally from just four women, or "founder lineages", that were "likely from a Hebrew
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
/Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
ine mtDNA pool" originating in the Middle East in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Moreover, a maternal line "sister" was found among the Jews of North Africa, France, Italy, and Portugal:
Both the extent and location of the maternal ancestral demeDeme (biology)In biology, a deme is a term for a local population of organisms of one species that actively interbreed with one another and share a distinct gene pool...
from which the Ashkenazi Jewry arose remain obscure. Here, using complete sequences of the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), we show that close to one-half of Ashkenazi Jews, estimated at 8,000,000 people, can be traced back to only four women carrying distinct mtDNAs that are virtually absent in other populations, with the important exception of low frequencies among non-Ashkenazi Jews. We conclude that four founding mtDNAs, likely of Near Eastern ancestry, underwent major expansion(s) in Europe within the past millennium...
Another study done in 2007 by J. Feder et al. confirms the hypothesis of the founding of non-local origin, though their study didn't deal with the geographical origin of Ashkenazim and therefore does not explicitly confirm the origin "Levantine" of these founders. This study revealed a significant divergence in total haplogroup distribution between the Ashkenazi Jewish populations and their European host population, namely Russians, Poles and Germans, concluding that regarding mtDNAs, the differences between Jews and non-Jews are far larger than those observed among the Jewish communities. The study also found that "the differences between the Jewish communities can be overlooked when non-Jews are included in the comparisons", and supported previous interpretations of "little or no gene flow from the local non-Jewish communities in Poland and Russia to the Jewish communities in these countries".
Mt-DNA of Jews from North Africa
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of the Jewish populations of North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Libya) has been the subject of further detailed study in 2008 by Doron Behar et al. It shows that Jews from this region do not share the haplogroupHaplogroup
In the study of molecular evolution, a haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor having the same single nucleotide polymorphism mutation in both haplotypes. Because a haplogroup consists of similar haplotypes, this is what makes it possible to predict a haplogroup...
s of the mitochondrial DNA haplogroups (M1 and U6), which are typical of the North African of Berber and Arab populations. Similarly, while the frequency of haplogroups L, associated with sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, are around an average of 20–25% at the Berber populations studied, it is only 1.3%, 2.7% and 3.6% respectively among Jews from Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.
Behar et al. conclude that it is unlikely that North African Jews, have significant Arab, or Berber admixture, "consistent with social restrictions imposed by religious restrictions". This study also found genetic similarities between the Ashkenazi and North African Jewish mitochondrial DNA pools, but differences between both of these and Jews from the Middle East. Instead, the study that about 40% of Libya's Jews are descendants of one woman along their maternal lines and that 43% of Tunisian Jews descended from 4 women along their maternal lines.
Mt-DNA of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula
The data (mt-DNA) recovered by D. Behar et al. are located in the village of Belmonte in Portugal in a community descended from crypto-Jews. It is not possible to generalize the entire Iberian Peninsula.Mt-DNA of Jews from Ethiopia
The results are similar to those of the male population, namely genetic characteristics identical to those of surrounding populations.Mt-DNA of the Jews of Turkey
Mt-DNA of the Jews of Turkey is extremely divergent which means that the genetic mother is from very different origins. It is interesting to note that an Iberian type lineage has been found which is consistent with historical data.However, in the same context it is noteworthy that different variants of HV0 can be observed among Turkic Jews as well (Tables S1 and Table S3), in accord with historical records documenting the migration of a considerable fraction of Iberian Jewish exiles to Anatolia, including to Istanbul, directly after their expulsion from the Iberian peninsula (Behar 2008)Mt-DNA of the Jews of Georgia
According to the study of G. Thomas et al. 51% of Georgian Jews descended from a single female (58% according to Behar ). Unfortunately, once again it is not possible to determine the origin of this lineage.Mt-DNA of Jews from Yemen
In a study by Richards et al., authors suggest that a minor proportion of haplogroup L1 and L3A lineage from sub-Saharan Africa is present among Jews from Yemen. However, these lines are 4 times smaller in proportion than among non-Jewish Yemenis. These sub-Saharan haplogroups are virtually absent among Jews from Iraq, Iran and Georgia and are completely absent among Ashkenazi Jews.The Jewish population of Yemen has also a founder effect. 42% of maternal lines come from 5 women originating in western Asia for 4 of them and sub-Saharan Africa for the last.
Mt-DNA of Cochin Jews and of Bnei Israel Indian subcontinent
According to the study of 2008 D. Behar et al., it is clear that the maternal lineage of the Jews of India has a local origin for the vast majority of the community. However, it appears that the maternal gene pull still include a maternal lineage of origin Iraqi /Iranian or Italian.
Autosomal DNA
These studies focus upon autosomal chromosomes, the 22 homologous or autosomes (non sex chromosomes), rather than on the paternal or maternal lines.An initial study conducted in 2001 by N. Rosenberg et al. on six Jewish populations (Poland, Libya, Ethiopia, Iraq, Morocco, Yemen) and two non-Jewish populations (Palestinians and Druze) shows that while the eight groups are close, the Jews of Libya have a genetic signature separate from their genetic isolation and a possible combination with Berber populations."This population has a unique history among North African Jewish communities, including an early founding, a harsh bottleneck, possible admixture with local Berbers, limited contact with other Jewish communities, and small size in the recent past" (Rosenberg 2001) This same study suggests a close relationship between Jews of Yemen and those of Ethiopia.
A 2006 study by Seldin et al. used over five thousand autosomal SNPs to demonstrate European genetic substructure. The results showed “a consistent and reproducible distinction between ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ European population groups”. Most northern, central, and eastern Europeans (Finns, Swedes, English, Irish, Germans, and Ukrainians) showed >90% in the ‘northern’ population group, while most individual participants with southern European ancestry (Italians, Greeks, Portuguese, Spaniards) showed >85% in the 'southern' group. Both Ashkenazi Jews as well as Sephardic Jews showed >85% membership in the “southern” group. Referring to the Jews clustering with southern Europeans, the authors state the results were "consistent with a later Mediterranean origin of these ethnic groups".
A 2007 study by Bauchet et al. found that Ashkenazi Jews were most closely clustered with Arabic North African populations when compared to Global population, and in the European structure analysis, they share genetic similarities with Greeks and Southern Italians, reflecting their east Mediterranean origins.
In a 2009 study by Kopelman et al., Ashkenazi Jews, Turks, Moroccans and Tunisians, share a common origin from the Middle East and are quite close to Palestinians. However, in this study, the Tunisian Jews are distinct from three other Jewish populations, which might tend to suggest, according to the authors, a greater genetic isolation and/or a significant contribution of local Berber as in the case of Libyan Jews. In this study, the authors also state, on the hypothesis of the origin of Ashkenazi Jews, that they did not detect differences between Ashkenazi Jews and other Jewish populations. Nonetheless, they detected a similarity between the Adyghe people
Adyghe people
The Adyghe or Adygs , also often known as Circassians or Cherkess, are in origin a North Caucasian ethnic groupwho were displaced in the course of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, especially after the Russian–Circassian War of 1862.Adyghe people mostly speak Adyghe and most...
(a group of Caucasus whose land was formerly occupied by the Khazars) and Jewish populations studied, as was observed by Need et al. in another study. In conclusion, the authors of this study found that "different Jewish population groups show a high level of genetic similarity to each other, clustering together in several types of analysis of population structure." The authors explained this similarity as a result of a shared ancestry with an ancestral Middle Eastern group
Another study of L. Hao et al. (October 2009) studied seven groups of Jewish populations with different geographic origin (Ashkenazi, Italians, Greeks, Turks, Iranians, Iraqis and Syrians) showed that the individuals all shared a Middle Eastern background in common, although they were also genetically distinguishable from each other. This distinction, it was once again suggested, reflects mixtures with different local populations. Thus, among the Jewish populations studied, the authors detected a European contribution ranging from 30% to 60% among Syrian Jews, Sephardim and Ashkenazim, which was virtually absent in the Iranian and Iraqi Jews. The same authors (Atzmon et al. June 2010) demonstrated that European/Syrian and Middle Eastern Jews represent a series of geographical isolates or clusters woven together by shared IBD (identity by descent) genetic threads. Each of the groups in the study demonstrated Middle Eastern ancestry as Middle Eastern Jews and European/Syrian Jews seems to share common ancestors in the Middle East about 2500 years ago. The study examines genetic markers spread across the entire genome and shows that the Jewish groups (Ashkenazi and non Ashkenazi) share large swaths of DNA, indicating close relationships and that each of the Jewish groups that were studied (Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Italian, Turkish, Greek and Ashkenazi) has its own genetic signature but is more closely related to the other Jewish groups than to non-Jewish groups. The study also found that with respect to non-Jewish European groups, the population most closely related to Ashkenazi and Syrian Jews are modern-day Italians. The study speculated that the genetic-similarity between Ashkenazi/Syrian Jews and Italians may be due to inter-marriage and conversions in the time of the Roman Empire. It was also found that any two Ashkenazi Jewish participants in the study shared about as much DNA as fourth or fifth cousinsHarry Ostrer
Harry Ostrer
Dr. Harry Ostrer is a geneticist known for his study, writings, and lectures about the origins of the Jewish people. He is a Professor of Pathology and Genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University and Director of Genetic and Genomic Testing at Montefiore Medical Center...
, the director of the Human Genetics Program at NYU Langone Medical Center, and one of the author of this study, concluded "We have shown that Jewishness can be identified through genetic analysis, so the notion of a Jewish people is plausible. "Dr. Ostrer noted, "The study supports the idea of a Jewish people linked by a shared genetic history".
In addition, the genetic proximity of European/Syrian Jewish populations, including Ashkenazi Jews, to each other and to French, Northern Italian, and Sardinian populations favors the idea of possible non-Semitic Mediterranean contribution in the formation of the European/Syrian Jewish groups and is incompatible with theories that Ashkenazi Jews are for the most part the direct lineal descendants of converted Khazars or Slavs. It refutes large-scale genetic contributions of Central and Eastern European and Slavic populations to the formation of Ashkenazi Jewry. Other authors have previously shown the genetic proximity between Ashkenazi and Southern European population (Cf. table below and discussion above).
| Italians | Greeks | Spanish | Germans | Druze | Palestinians | Irish | Russians | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashkenazi | 0.0040 | 0.0042 | 0.0056 | 0.0072 | 0.0088 | 0.0108 | 0.0109 | 0.0137 |
The Iranian and Iraqi Jews are the most differentiated with the greatest genetic distances from the other populations and the least distances from each other. They have a high coefficient of inbreeding. A certain degree of admixture may have occurred with local populations.
In June 2010, Behar et al. "shows that most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight subcluster that overlies Druze and Cypriot samples but not samples from other Levantine populations or paired Diaspora host populations. In contrast, Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) and Indian Jews (Bene Israel and Cochini) cluster with neighbouring autochthonous populations in Ethiopia and western India, respectively, despite a clear paternal link between the Bene Israel and the Levant.". "The most parsimonious explanation for these observations is a common genetic origin, which is consistent with an historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant."
In July 2010 Bray's et al. using SNP
SNP array
In molecular biology and bioinformatics, a SNP array is a type of DNA microarray which is used to detect polymorphisms within a population. A single nucleotide polymorphism , a variation at a single site in DNA, is the most frequent type of variation in the genome. For example, there are around 10...
microarray
DNA microarray
A DNA microarray is a collection of microscopic DNA spots attached to a solid surface. Scientists use DNA microarrays to measure the expression levels of large numbers of genes simultaneously or to genotype multiple regions of a genome...
techniques and linkage analysis "confirms that there is a closer relationship between the Ashkenazim and several European populations (Tuscans, Italians, and French) than between the Ashkenazim and Middle Eastern populations" and that European "admixture is considerably higher than previous estimates by studies that used the Y chromosome" adding that their study "support the model of a Middle Eastern origin of the Ashkenazim population followed by subsequent admixture with host Europeans or populations more similar to Europeans" and that their data imply that modern Ashkenazi Jews are perhaps even more similar with Europeans than modern Middle Easterners. The level of admixture with European population was estimated between 35 to 55%. The study assumed Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
and Palestinian Arabs populations to represent the reference to world Jewry ancestor genome. With this reference point, the linkage disequilibrium in the Ashkenazi Jewish population was interpreted as "matches signs of interbreeding or 'admixture' between Middle Eastern and European populations". Also, in their press release, Bray stated: "We were surprised to find evidence that Ashkenazi Jews have higher heterozygosity than Europeans, contradicting the widely-held presumption that they have been a largely isolated group". Nevertheless, the authors indicated that possible Achilles' heel for their conclusions is that their calculations might have "overestimated the level of admixture" in case that the true Jewish ancestors were genetically closer to Southern Europeans than Druze and Palestinian Arabs are and predicted that using the non Ashkenazi Jewish Diaspora populations as reference for world Jewry ancestor genome would "underestimate the level of admixture", since they find it reasonable that the non Ashkenazi Jewish Diaspora has also "undergone the similar admixture" compared to Ashkenazi Jews.
Zoossmann-Diskin (2010) is critical of the interpretations made by other authors of autosomal DNA data from Jewish populations. He argues that based upon X chromosome and autosomal DNA evidence, Eastern European Jewish populations and Jewish populations from Iran, Iraq and Yemen, do not have the same genetic origins. In particular, concerning Eastern European Jews, he believes the evidence points to a dominant amount of southern European, and specifically Italian, ancestry, which he argues is probably a result of conversions during the Roman empire. Concerning the similarity between Sephardi and Ashkenazi, he argues that the reasons are uncertain, but that it is likely to be caused by Sephardic Jews having "Mediterranean" ancestry also, like the Ashkenazi. Concerning mitochondrial DNA, and particularly Y DNA, he accepts that there are superficial signs of a Middle Eastern origins, but he argues that this can be ignored as it is may came from a small number of ancestors.
In 2011, Moorjani et al. show to have detected 3%–5% sub-Saharan African ancestry in all eight of the diverse Jewish populations (Ashkenazim, Syrian Jews, Iranian Jews, Iraqi Jews, Greek Jews, Turkey Jews, Italian Jews) that they analyzed. Researchers from the Harvard Medical School estimate that the exchange of genes occurred approximately 72 generations ago (or about 2,000 years). Lawrence Schiffman, professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at Yeshiva University, believes the intermixing may have occurred during the Hellenistic period (c. 320–30 B.C.E.), when Jewish communities were resident in many North African coastal cities, or during the First Temple period (c. 950–600 B.C.E.), when the Israelite kings, including Solomon, had trade relationships with Africa.
The Samaritans
The Samaritans are an ancient northern population of historic Palestine, where they are historically well identified since at least the 4th century BC. They define themselves as the descendants of tribes of EphraimTribe of Ephraim
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim was one of the Tribes of Israel. The Tribe of Manasseh together with Ephraim also formed the House of Joseph....
and Manasseh
Tribe of Manasseh
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh was one of the Tribes of Israel. Together with the Tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh also formed the House of Joseph....
(two tribes from the Tribe of Joseph
Tribe of Joseph
The Tribe of Joseph was one of the Tribes of Israel, though since Ephraim and Manasseh together traditionally constituted the tribe of Joseph, it was often not listed as one of the tribes, in favour of Ephraim and Manasseh being listed in its place; consequently it was often termed the House of...
) living in the Kingdom of Israel before its destruction in 722 BC. For them, the Jews are the descendants of the Israelites from ancient southern kingdom of Judah (and Jerusalem).
A 2004 study by Shen et al. compared the Y-DNA and DNA-mt Samaritans of 12 men with those of 158 men who were not Samaritans, divided between 6 Jewish populations (Ashkenazi origin, Moroccan, Libyan, Ethiopian, Iraqi and Yemeni) and 2 non-Jewish populations from Israel (Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
and Arab). The study concludes that significant similarities exist between paternal lines of Jews and Samaritans, but the maternal lines differ between the two populations. The pair-wise genetic distances (Fst) between 11 populations from AMOVA applied to the Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial data. For the Y-chromosome, all Jewish groups, except for the Ethiopians, are closely related to each other. They do not differ significantly from Samaritans (0.041) and Druze (0.033), but are different from Palestinians (0.163), Africans (0.219), and Europeans (0.111). Nevertheless, the data in this study indicated that the Samaritan and Jewish Y-chromosomes have a greater affinity than do those of the Samaritans and their geographical neighbors, the Palestinians.
The Lembas
The LembaLemba
The Lemba or 'wa-Remba' are a southern African ethnic group to be found in Zimbabwe and South Africa with some little known branches in Mozambique and Malawi. According to Parfitt they are thought to number 70,000...
s clans are scattered among the Bantu-speaking tribes in Zimbabwe and northern South Africa. The oral tradition traces the origin of the Jewish Lembas Saana in Yemen. Some practices reminiscent of Jewish practices (circumcision, food law,…). Two studies have attempted to determine the paternal origin of these tribes. The first by A. Spurdle and T. Jenkins dates from 1996 and suggests that more than half of Lembas tested are of Semitic origin.The authors used a method RFLP of 49 individuals Lembas (Spurdle et al. 1996) The second study by Mark G. Thomas et al. dates from 2000 and also suggests that part of Lembas have a Semitic origin that can come from a mixture of Arab and Jewish.The authors 6 STR markers tested on 136 male Lembas (Thomas et al. 2000) In addition, the authors show that clans Lemba (Buba clan) has a large proportion of the former CMH
Y-chromosomal Aaron
Y-chromosomal Aaron is the name given to the hypothesised most recent common ancestor of many of the patrilineal Jewish priestly caste known as Kohanim . In the Torah, this ancestor is identified as Aaron, the brother of Moses...
.