Reproduction and inbreeding among the Samaritans

Roberts, D. F.; Bonné, Batsheva

doi:10.1080/19485565.1973.9988023

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Throughout their history, the Samaritans adhered to an endogamous marriage system that was practiced not only within the limits of the community but also often within the limits of the family. Extensive demographic and genetic investigations of the Samaritan community have been carried out since the 1960's (Bonné, 1963; Bonné, 1966a,b; Roberts & Bonné, 1973).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal and Paternal Lineages of the Samaritan Isolate: Mutation Rates and Time to Most Recent Common Male Ancestor

Bonné‐Tamir¹,

Korostishevsky²,

Redd³

et al. 2003

Annals of Human Genetics

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SummaryThe Samaritan community is a small, isolated, and highly endogamous group numbering some 650 members who have maintained extensive genealogical records for the past 13-15 generations. We performed mutation detection experiments on mitochondrial DNAs and Y chromosomes from confirmed maternal and paternal lineages to estimate mutation rates in these two haploid compartments of the genome. One hundred and twenty four DNA samples from different pedigrees (representing 200 generation links) were analyzed for the mtDNA hypervariable I and II regions, and 74 male samples (comprising 139 links) were typed for 12 Y-STRs mapping to the non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY). Excluding two somatic heteroplasmic substitutions and several length variants in the homopolymeric C run in the HVII region, no mutations were found in the Samaritans' maternal lineages. Based on mutations found in Samaritan paternal lineages, an estimate of a mutation rate of 0.42% (95% confidence interval of 0.22%-0.71%) across 12 Y-STRs was obtained. This estimate is slightly higher than those obtained in previous pedigree studies in other populations. The haplotypes identified in Samaritan paternal lineages that belong to the same haplogroup were used to estimate the number of generations elapsed since their most recent common ancestor (MRCA). The estimate of 80 generations corresponds with accepted traditions of the origin of this sect.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal and Paternal Lineages of the Samaritan Isolate: Mutation Rates and Time to Most Recent Common Male Ancestor

Bonné‐Tamir¹,

Korostishevsky²,

Redd³

et al. 2003

Annals of Human Genetics

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“…Throughout the whole of their history, the Samaritans adhered to an endogamous marriage system that was practised not only within the limits of the community but also often within the limits of the lineage. Several studies undertaken on the recent Samaritan community report their demographic structure and depict their unique genetic profile (Bonne, 1963(Bonne, , 1966aRoberts & Bonne, 1973), and also demonstrate the highly inbred nature of the community with 84% of consanguineous marriages between either first or second cousins and a mean inbreeding coefficient of 0-0618 (Bonne-Tamir, 1980). It has been argued (Jacquard, 1974) that the probabilities of the origin of the genes from particular founder members are more informative in the analysis of the genetic evolution of a population than calculation of the mean inbreeding coefficient.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic evolution of the Samaritans

Cazes

Bonné‐Tamir

1984

J. Biosoc. Sci.

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SummaryDetailed pedigrees of the small Samaritan isolate covering the last thirteen generations and consisting of 82 founders and 670 descendants allowed calculations of (a) the probability of origin of genes from particular founder members, and (b) the total number of descendants from each founder. Analysis of the matrix of distances between the thirteen generations identified the kind and the direction of the evolution of this community: rapid evolution from the first to the eighth generation due to the small population size, slowly progressing towards a stable state in the last three generations.

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“…However, considering prenatal mortality, in most of the samples studied in India and others (such as the Samaritans of Israel [38] and females in Kuwait [2]), abortion risks appear to be higher in non-consanguineous couples. Several authors, however, have observed a difference in this respect between the rates of early and late abortions, and reported a slight increase in the latter in consanguineous couples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

The Effect of Inbreeding on Mortality and Morbidity among Telugu-speaking Populations of Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

Das

2006

Intl Jnl Anthropology

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Increased mortality and morbidity including congenital malformations among the offspring of consanguineous marriages have been widely reported in human populations from different parts of the world. However, there are few studies on the effect of the intensity of inbreeding and different degrees of inbreeding on mortality and morbidity. The present study is an attempt to examine the effects of inbreeding on mortality and morbidity including congenital disorders in different levels of inbreeding among Telugu-speaking populations of Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, based on data collected through extensive pedigrees. The study reveals that the frequency of spontaneous abortions and stillbirths is higher in the offspring of consanguineous marriages than in that of non-consanguineous marriages. A similar effect is also observed in the infant mortality rate, which is known to have a genetic component, but is not seen in the mortality rate of children and juveniles. The rate of morbidity is consistently higher in the offspring of consanguineous marriages with a sex bias in favour of inbred females. The increased morbidity rates in inbred individuals tend to be inversely correlated with the increase in average autosomal inbreeding coefficient. This appears to strengthen Sanghvi's hypothesis of a decline in the frequency of deleterious genes with intensification of inbreeding through generations. The present study also confirms an increase in genetic disorders with an increase in inbreeding in almost all populations.

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Reproduction and inbreeding among the Samaritans

Cited by 19 publications

References 7 publications

Maternal and Paternal Lineages of the Samaritan Isolate: Mutation Rates and Time to Most Recent Common Male Ancestor

Maternal and Paternal Lineages of the Samaritan Isolate: Mutation Rates and Time to Most Recent Common Male Ancestor

Genetic evolution of the Samaritans

The Effect of Inbreeding on Mortality and Morbidity among Telugu-speaking Populations of Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

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