High-resolution Y chromosome haplotypes of Israeli and Palestinian Arabs reveal geographic substructure and substantial overlap with haplotypes of Jews

Abstract

High-resolution Y chromosome haplotype analysis was performed in 143 paternally unrelated Israeli and Palestinian Moslem Arabs (I&P Arabs) by screening for 11 binary polymorphisms and six microsatellite loci. Two frequent haplotypes were found among the 83 detected: the modal haplotype of the I&P Arabs (approximately 14%) was spread throughout the region, while its one-step microsatellite neighbor, the modal haplotype of the Galilee sample (approximately 8%), was mainly restricted to the north. Geographic substructuring within the Arabs was observed in the highlands of Samaria and Judea. Y chromosome variation in the I&P Arabs was compared to that of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, and to that of North Welsh individuals. At the haplogroup level, defined by the binary polymorphisms only, the Y chromosome distribution in Arabs and Jews was similar but not identical. At the haplotype level, determined by both binary and microsatellite markers, a more detailed pattern was observed. Single-step microsatellite networks of Arab and Jewish haplotypes revealed a common pool for a large portion of Y chromosomes, suggesting a relatively recent common ancestry. The two modal haplotypes in the I&P Arabs were closely related to the most frequent haplotype of Jews (the Cohen modal haplotype). However, the I&P Arab clade that includes the two Arab modal haplotypes (and makes up 32% of Arab chromosomes) is found at only very low frequency among Jews, reflecting divergence and/or admixture from other populations.

Y chromosome evidence for a founder effect in Ashkenazi Jews

“…3,4,11 However, in a combined non-Ashkenazi sample of 320 individuals (Sephardic, Kurdish Jews and Palestinians), 4 H6 was found only in a single Sephardic Jew (0.3%; Figure 1). This finding strongly 5 (ranging from 0.89470.022 to 0.91970.026), and by the fact that in a combined Ashkenazi -European network, Jews present only a subset of the haplotypes (not shown).…”

Haplogroup-specific deviation from the stepwise mutation model at the microsatellite loci DYS388 and DYS392

“…This hypothesis was confirmed in a recent study (ref. 17 and manuscript in preparation) in which the three haplogroups were further defined by five additional binary polymorphisms (M9, M13, M17, M20 and SRY10831). Our results showed that the long and short alleles of both DYS388 and DYS392 segregated almost completely between these newly defined haplogroups.…”

Ethnic populations of India as seen from an evolutionary perspective

“…The haplogroup frequencies are presented in table 4. Because the set of markers screened in this study were not exactly the same as those screened in the published studies (Hammer et al 2000;Nebel et al 2000), some of the haplogroups could not be resolved and had to be pooled. It is seen that there is substantial overlap in the types of haplogroups observed in the north Indian and in the Middle Eastern regions.…”