Y Chromosomes Traveling South: The Cohen Modal Haplotype and the Origins of the Lemba—the “Black Jews of Southern Africa”

Abstract

The Lemba are a traditionally endogamous group speaking a variety of Bantu languages who live in a number of locations in southern Africa. They claim descent from Jews who came to Africa from "Sena." "Sena" is variously identified by them as Sanaa in Yemen, Judea, Egypt, or Ethiopia. A previous study using Y-chromosome markers suggested both a Bantu and a Semitic contribution to the Lemba gene pool, a suggestion that is not inconsistent with Lemba oral tradition. To provide a more detailed picture of the Lemba paternal genetic heritage, we analyzed 399 Y chromosomes for six microsatellites and six biallelic markers in six populations (Lemba, Bantu, Yemeni-Hadramaut, Yemeni-Sena, Sephardic Jews, and Ashkenazic Jews). The high resolution afforded by the markers shows that Lemba Y chromosomes are clearly divided into Semitic and Bantu clades. Interestingly, one of the Lemba clans carries, at a very high frequency, a particular Y-chromosome type termed the "Cohen modal haplotype," which is known to be characteristic of the paternally inherited Jewish priesthood and is thought, more generally, to be a potential signature haplotype of Judaic origin. The Bantu Y-chromosome samples are predominantly (>80%) YAP+ and include a modal haplotype at high frequency. Assuming a rapid expansion of the eastern Bantu, we used variation in microsatellite alleles in YAP+ sY81-G Bantu Y chromosomes to calculate a rough date, 3,000-5,000 years before the present, for the start of their expansion.

Genetic diversity on the Comoros Islands shows early seafaring as major determinant of human biocultural evolution in the Western Indian Ocean

“…15,65 The Lemba have high frequencies of the Middle Eastern Y-chromosome HgJ-12f2a (25%), a potentially SEA Y, Hg-K(xPQR) (32%) and a Bantu Y, E-PN1 (30%) (similar to E-M2), raising the possibility that the Lemba and Comorian populations are consequences of similar demographic processes. The high-resolution genotyping of the Lemba Y chromosomes and mitochondria will elucidate this question.…”

Haplotype Trees and Modern Human Origins

“…The Lemba, as discussed earlier, provide a more recent example. In this case, Y-DNA provides evidence for extensive interbreeding between Jewish and Bantu populations, but mtDNA indicates that there was no interbreeding at all, a pattern consistent with their oral history (Soodyall, 1993;Thomas et al, 2000;Wilson and Goldstein, 2000). Thus, mtDNA alone is biologically incapable of detecting all admixture events, even those such as the Lemba in which the degree of admixture was 100% (given that their origin was due to Jewish men mating with Bantu women).…”

“…For example, Thomas et al (2000) identified several Y-chromosomal haplotypes from the tips of the Y-DNA haplotype tree that were also of restricted geographical distribution. They surveyed Y-chromosomal variation in the Lemba, a southern African group who speak a variety of Bantu languages but claim Jewish ancestry .…”

“…Many were lost at sea, but the remainder interbred with local Bantu women, thereby establishing the ancestors of the current Lemba, who are now found mostly in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Thomas et al (2000) showed that about two-thirds of the Lemba Y chromosomes have a Middle Eastern origin, and one-third a Bantu origin. Moreover, one particular Y-chromosomal haplotype is found in frequencies ranging from 0.100-0.231 in various Jewish populations, but is very rare or absent from most other human populations.…”

Y-chromosome diversity characterizes the Gulf of Oman

“…14 Mitochondrial DNA analyses have been performed on collections from Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen, 5,20 yet the paternal component of this historically and geographically significant region is incomplete. Although Y-chromosome studies have focused on neighboring areas, including Egypt, 4 Somalia, 21 Iraq, 22 Syria and Lebanon 23 as well as on the southern Arabian populations of Oman 4 and Yemen, 24 high resolution Y-chromosome analyses of the Persian and Oman Gulfs are fragmentary.…”