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Nature CommunicationsVolume 4, 2013, Article number 2543

A substantial prehistoric european ancestry amongst ashkenazi maternal lineages(Article)

  • Costa, M.D.,
  • Pereira, J.B.,
  • Pala, M.,
  • Fernandes, V.,
  • Olivieri, A.,
  • Achilli, A.,
  • Perego, U.A.,
  • Rychkov, S.,
  • Naumova, O.,
  • Hatina, J.,
  • Woodward, S.R.,
  • Eng, K.K.,
  • MacAulay, V.,
  • Carr, M.,
  • Soares, P.,
  • Pereira, L.,
  • Richards, M.B.
  • View Correspondence (jump link)
  • aInstitute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
  • bIPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade Do Porto), Porto 4200-465, Portugal
  • cSchool of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, United Kingdom
  • dDipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Pavia, Pavia 27100, Italy
  • eDipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Perugia, Perugia 06123, Italy
  • fSorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, Salt Lake City, UT 84115, United States
  • gVavilov Institute of General Genetics, Moscow 119991, Russian Federation
  • hCharles University, Medical Faculty in Pilsen, Institute of Biology, CZ-301 66 Pilsen, Czech Republic
  • iAncestry, Provo, UT 84604, United States
  • jCentre for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Penang, Malaysia
  • kSchool of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
  • lFaculdade de Medicina da Universidade Do Porto, Porto 4200-319, Portugal

Abstract

The origins of Ashkenazi Jews remain highly controversial. Like Judaism, mitochondrial DNA is passed along the maternal line. Its variation in the Ashkenazim is highly distinctive, with four major and numerous minor founders. However, due to their rarity in the general population, these founders have been difficult to trace to a source. Here we show that all four major founders, ∼40% of Ashkenazi mtDNA variation, have ancestry in prehistoric Europe, rather than the Near East or Caucasus. Furthermore, most of the remaining minor founders share a similar deep European ancestry. Thus the great majority of Ashkenazi maternal lineages were not brought from the Levant, as commonly supposed, nor recruited in the Caucasus, as sometimes suggested, but assimilated within Europe. These results point to a significant role for the conversion of women in the formation of Ashkenazi communities, and provide the foundation for a detailed reconstruction of Ashkenazi genealogical history. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited.

Indexed keywords

EMTREE drug terms:mitochondrial DNA
GEOBASE Subject Index:ancestrygenealogyJudaismmitochondrial DNAphylogenyprehistoricreconstruction
EMTREE medical terms:articleEuropegene flowgenealogyglacial periodHolocenehumanNeolithicprehistoric period
Regional Index:Europe
MeSH:Bayes TheoremDNA, MitochondrialEuropeFemaleFounder EffectGenealogy and HeraldryGenome, MitochondrialHaplotypesHistory, 15th CenturyHistory, AncientHistory, MedievalHumansInheritance PatternsJewsMalePhylogenyPhylogeography

Funding details

Funding sponsor Funding number Acronym
SFRH/BPD/64233/2009,SFRH/ BD/61342/2009,SFRH/BD/45657/2008,SFRH/BD/48372/2008
Ministry of Science, Technology and Space
Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della RicercaRBFR08U07M,RBFR126B8IMIUR
PTDC/CS–ANT/113832/2009
Fuel Cell Technologies ProgramFCT
Leverhulme Trust
See opportunities		10 105/ D

  • 1

    We thank Doron Behar for discussions and suggestions, and Pierre-Marie Danze, Mukaddes Gölge, Anne Cambon-Thomsen, CEPH, Steve Jones, Ariella Oppenheim, Gheorghe Stefanescu, Mark Thomas and the donors themselves for generously providing DNA samples. FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, supported this work through the research project PTDC/CS–ANT/113832/2009 and the personal grants to M.D.C. (SFRH/BD/48372/2008), J.B.P. (SFRH/BD/45657/2008), V.F. (SFRH/ BD/61342/2009) and P.S. (SFRH/BPD/64233/2009). We also received support from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research: Progetti Futuro in Ricerca 2008 (RBFR08U07M) and 2012 (RBFR126B8I) (to A.O. and A.A.) and Progetti Ricerca Interesse Nazionale 2009 and 2012 (to A.A.), the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (to U.A.P. and S.R.W.), the Leverhulme Trust (research project grant 10 105/ D) (to MBR) and the DeLaszlo Foundation (to M.B.R./P.S.). IPATIMUP is an Associate Laboratory of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and is partially supported by FCT.

  • ISSN: 20411723
  • Source Type: Journal
  • Original language: English
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3543
  • PubMed ID: 24104924
  • Document Type: Article

  Richards, M.B.; Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, United Kingdom;
© Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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