What DNA Research Tells Us

About The Jewish Diaspora

Theodore G. Schurr, Ph.D.

University of Pennsylvania

Department of Anthropology

Consulting Curator

American & Physical Anthropology Sections

Penn Museum

Maternal

Genetic

Perspective

(mtDNA)

The Matrilineal Ancestry of

Ashkenazi Jewry: Portrait of a

Recent Founder Event

Behar et al. 2006

� Four major founding maternal

lineages in Ashkenazi Jews

� All from haplogroups K and N1b

–Within K, three different sublineages:

K1a1b1a, K1a9, and K2a2a

Ages of Major Ashkenazi mtDNA

Lineages

� K1a1b1a:

– Entire branch = 1,835 ybp

– Ashkenazi = 742 ybp

� K1a9:

– Entire branch = 1,713 ybp

– Ashkenazi – 2,569 ybp

� K2a2a:

– Entire Branch = 1,614 ybp

� N1b1:

– Ashkenazi = 721 ybp

Non-Ashkenazi Jews

Behar et al. 2008

Paternal

Genetic

Perspective

(Y-

chromosome)

Hammer et al. 2000

Behar et al. (2003)

Y-chromosome

Variation in

Jewish

Populations

Ancestral Hgs:

E-M35*, J-12f2*, G-

M201*, and Q-P36

Admixed Hgs:

R-P25, R-M17, and I-

P19

Relationship between average variance in STR allele size

and SNP haplogroup diversity (h) for seven European non-Jewish

populations (circles) and ten Ashkenazi Jewish populations

(triangle)

MDS plot of ten Ashkenazi Jewish and seven non-Jewish

European populations based on Nei’s standard genetic distances

for Y-chromosome SNP haplogroups

Phylogeny

and frequency

distributions

of Y-

chromosome

Hg E and its

main

subclades

Semino et al. 2004

Am. J. Hum. Genet.

74:1023–1034

Phylogeny

and frequency

distributions

of Y-

chromosome

Hg J and its

main

subclades

Semino et al. 2004

Am. J. Hum. Genet.

74:1023–1034

J2

J1

Samaritan Study – Shen et al. (2004)

E3b1 J2 J1

Y-chromosome Data

Nebel et al. (2001)

Cohen Model Haplotype

Y-chromosome Haplogroup J1c3

(J-P58)

� J1c3 very common in Levant, Arabian

Peninsula, North Africa

� Subcluster = YCAII=22-22 &

DYS388≥≥≥≥15

– Cohen Modal haplotype

– Galilee Model haplotype

• Also in NW Africans, Yemenis

– Palestinian/Israeli Arab Model Haplotype

� Origin and Spread of Semitic

Languages

The Genetic Legacy

of Religious

Diversity and

Intolerance:

Paternal Lineages of

Christians, Jews,

and Muslims

in the Iberian

Peninsula

Adams et al. 2008

AJHG 83:725–736

Y-Haplogroup Distributions in Iberian, North African, and Sephardic Jewish Populations

Iberian, North African, and Sephardic Jewish Admixture Proportions among Iberian Peninsula Samples

Admixture analysis based on binary and Y-STR haplotypes

indicates a high mean proportion of ancestry from North

African (10.6%) and Sephardic Jewish (19.8%) sources.

Despite alternative possible sources for lineages ascribed a

Sephardic Jewish origin, these proportions attest to a high

level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced),

driven by historical episodes of social and religious

intolerance, that ultimately led to the integration of

descendants. In agreement with the historical record, analysis

of haplotype sharing and diversity within specific haplogroups

suggests that the Sephardic Jewish component is the more

ancient.

The geographical distribution of North African ancestry in the

peninsula does not reflect the initial colonization and

subsequent withdrawal and is likely to result from later

enforced population movement—more marked in some

regions than in others—plus the effects of genetic drift.

Biparental

Genetic

Perspective

(Autosomes)

Seldin MF, Shigeta R, Villoslada P,

Selmi C, Tuomilehto J, et al. (2006)

European population

substructure: Clustering of

northern and southern

populations.

PLoS Genet 2(9): e143. DOI:

10.1371/journal.pgen.0020143

Population Genetic Structure Analysis of the New

York City Self-Identified European Americans and a

Selected Group of Participants of Jewish and

Eastern European Descent

Factor Correspondence Analysis Comparing

Different Individuals from European

Ancestry Groups

A genome-wide genetic signature of

Jewish ancestry perfectly separates

individuals with and without full

Jewish ancestry in a large

random sample of European

Americans

Anna C Need, Dalia Kasperaviččččiūūūūtėėėė, Elizabeth T Cirulli and David B Goldstein

Genome Biology 2009, 10:R7

(doi:10.1186/gb-2009-10-1-r7)

All subjects were whole-genome genotyped using either the Illumina

Infinium HumanHap550 version 1, the Illumina Infinium HumanHap550

version 3 or the Infinium Human- Hap 610-quad chips.

Steven M. Bray, Jennifer G. Mulle,

Anne F. Dodd, Ann E. Pulver, Stephen

Wooding, and Stephen T. Warren

(2010)

Signatures of founder effects,

admixture, and selection in the

Ashkenazi Jewish population.

Proc Natl Acad Sci

www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.10

04381107

Admixture and Its

Relationship with LD in

World Populations

Abraham’s Children in the Genome

Era: Major Jewish Diaspora

Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic

Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern

Ancestry.

Gil Atzmon, Li Hao, Itsik Pe’er,

Christopher Velez, Alexander

Pearlman, Pier Francesco Palamara,

Bernice Morrow, Eitan Friedman,

Carole Oddoux, Edward Burns, and

Harry Ostrer (2010)

Am J Hum Genet 86: 850–859.