The origin of Eastern European Jews revealed by autosomal, sex chromosomal and mtDNA polymorphisms

Abstract

BackgroundThis study aims to establish the likely origin of EEJ (Eastern European Jews) by genetic distance analysis of autosomal markers and haplogroups on the X and Y chromosomes and mtDNA.ResultsAccording to the autosomal polymorphisms the investigated Jewish populations do not share a common origin, and EEJ are closer to Italians in particular and to Europeans in general than to the other Jewish populations. The similarity of EEJ to Italians and Europeans is also supported by the X chromosomal haplogroups. In contrast according to the Y-chromosomal haplogroups EEJ are closest to the non-Jewish populations of the Eastern Mediterranean. MtDNA shows a mixed pattern, but overall EEJ are more distant from most populations and hold a marginal rather than a central position. The autosomal genetic distance matrix has a very high correlation (0.789) with geography, whereas the X-chromosomal, Y-chromosomal and mtDNA matrices have a lower correlation (0.540, 0.395 and 0.641 respectively).ConclusionsThe close genetic resemblance to Italians accords with the historical presumption that Ashkenazi Jews started their migrations across Europe in Italy and with historical evidence that conversion to Judaism was common in ancient Rome. The reasons for the discrepancy between the biparental markers and the uniparental markers are discussed.ReviewersThis article was reviewed by Damian Labuda (nominated by Jerzy Jurka), Kateryna Makova and Qasim Ayub (nominated by Dan Graur).

The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses

“…Druze and Cypriot appear similar to European Jews in their Middle Eastern and Western European ancestries, though they differ largely in the proportion of Caucasus ancestry. These results can explain the genetic similarity between European Jews, Southern Europeans, and Druze reported in studies that excluded Caucasus populations (Price et al 2008; Atzmon et al 2010; Zoossmann-Diskin 2010). Overall, our results portray the European Jewish genome as a mosaic of Near Eastern-Caucasus, Western European, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European ancestries in decreasing proportions.…”

“…2010; Zoossmann-Diskin 2010) and Middle Eastern ancestries (Nebel et al 2000; Behar et al 2010). By contrast, the Rhineland hypothesis could not explain the large Caucasus component in European Jews, which is rare in non-Caucasus populations (fig.…”

“…Some studies pointed to the genetic similarity between European Jews and Caucasus populations like Adygei (Behar et al 2003; Levy-Coffman 2005; Kopelman et al 2009), whereas some pointed to the similarity to Middle Eastern populations such as Palestinians (Hammer et al 2000; Nebel et al 2000), and others pointed to the similarity to Southern European populations like Italians (Atzmon et al 2010; Zoossmann-Diskin 2010). Most of these studies were done in the pregenome-wide era using uniparental markers and including different reference populations, which makes it difficult to compare their results.…”

A substantial prehistoric European ancestry amongst Ashkenazi maternal lineages

“…The extent to which Ashkenazi Jewry trace their ancestry to the Levant or to Europe is a long-standing question5, which remains highly controversial3461213141617. Our results, primarily from the detailed analysis of the four major haplogroup K and N1b founders, but corroborated with the remaining Ashkenazi mtDNAs, suggest that most Ashkenazi maternal lineages trace their ancestry to prehistoric Europe.…”

“…The origins of Ashkenazi Jews—the great majority of living Jews—remain highly contested and enigmatic to this day1234567891011. The Ashkenazim are Jews with a recent ancestry in central and Eastern Europe, in contrast to Sephardim (with an ancestry in Iberia, followed by exile after 1492), Mizrahim (who have always resided in the Near East) and North African Jews (comprising both Sephardim and Mizrahim).…”