The matrilineal ancestry of Ashkenazi Jewry: portrait of a recent founder event.
Behar DM1, Metspalu E, Kivisild T, Achilli A, Hadid Y, Tzur S, Pereira L, Amorim A, Quintana-Murci L, Majamaa K, Herrnstadt C, Howell N, Balanovsky O, Kutuev I, Pshenichnov A, Gurwitz D, Bonne-Tamir B, Torroni A, Villems R, Skorecki K.
Abstract
Both
the extent and location of the maternal ancestral deme from which the
Ashkenazi Jewry arose remain obscure. Here, using complete sequences of
the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), we show that close
to one-half of Ashkenazi Jews, estimated at 8,000,000 people, can be
traced back to only 4 women carrying distinct mtDNAs that are virtually
absent in other populations, with the important exception of low
frequencies among non-Ashkenazi Jews. We conclude that four founding
mtDNAs, likely of Near Eastern ancestry, underwent major expansion(s) in
Europe within the past millennium.
- PMID:
- 16404693
- [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- PMCID:
- PMC1380291
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