The matrilineal ancestry of Ashkenazi Jewry: Portrait of a recent founder event

Doron M. Behar, Ene Metspalu, Toomas Kivisild, Alessandro Achilli, Yarin Hadid, Shay Tzur, Luisa Pereira, Antonio Amorim, Lluis Quintana-Murci, Kari Majamaa, Corinna Herrnstadt, Neil Howell, Oleg Balanovsky, Ildus Kutuev, Andrey Pshenichnov, David Gurwitz, Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, Antonio Torroni, Richard Villems*, Karl Skorecki

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

129 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)487-497
Number of pages11
JournalAmerican Journal of Human Genetics
Volume78
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2006

Funding

FundersFunder number
Annie Chutick Endowment
Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche–Ministro dell'Istruzione dell'Univerita e della Ricerca
European Union Framework Programme Genemill and Genera
Programa Operacional Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação
National Science Foundation
Eesti Teadusfondi
Israel Science Foundation
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

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