Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes

TLDR

The study aimed to determine whether modern Jewish Y‑chromosome diversity originates mainly from a common Middle Eastern source or from admixture with neighboring non‑Jewish populations during and after the Diaspora. Researchers genotyped 18 Y‑chromosome biallelic markers in 1,371 males from 29 populations (7 Jewish and 16 non‑Jewish) to construct haplotypes and trace paternal origins. The analyses revealed that Jewish populations share a diverse set of haplotypes with Middle Eastern non‑Jewish groups, show little genetic differentiation among themselves, exhibit minimal European admixture, and support a common Middle Eastern ancestral origin with relative isolation from neighboring non‑Jewish communities.

Abstract

Haplotypes constructed from Y-chromosome markers were used to trace the paternal origins of the Jewish Diaspora. A set of 18 biallelic polymorphisms was genotyped in 1,371 males from 29 populations, including 7 Jewish (Ashkenazi, Roman, North African, Kurdish, Near Eastern, Yemenite, and Ethiopian) and 16 non-Jewish groups from similar geographic locations. The Jewish populations were characterized by a diverse set of 13 haplotypes that were also present in non-Jewish populations from Africa, Asia, and Europe. A series of analyses was performed to address whether modern Jewish Y-chromosome diversity derives mainly from a common Middle Eastern source population or from admixture with neighboring non-Jewish populations during and after the Diaspora. Despite their long-term residence in different countries and isolation from one another, most Jewish populations were not significantly different from one another at the genetic level. Admixture estimates suggested low levels of European Y-chromosome gene flow into Ashkenazi and Roman Jewish communities. A multidimensional scaling plot placed six of the seven Jewish populations in a relatively tight cluster that was interspersed with Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations, including Palestinians and Syrians. Pairwise differentiation tests further indicated that these Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations were not statistically different. The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, and suggest that most Jewish communities have remained relatively isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities during and after the Diaspora.