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

doi:10.1086/500307

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

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

124 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 language	English
Pages (from-to)	487-497
Number of pages	11
Journal	American Journal of Human Genetics
Volume	78
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/500307
State	Published - Mar 2006
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the individuals who provided samples for this study, the National Laboratory for the Genetics of Israeli Populations, which also provided samples, and Vered Friedman and Guennady Yudkovsky for technical assistance. This research was supported in part by Israeli Science Foundation grants (to K.S.), the Annie Chutick Endowment and Technion (to K.S.), the Estonian Science Foundation (to E.M. and T.K.), European Union Framework Programme Genemill and Genera grants (to R.V.), the Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche–Ministro dell'Istruzione dell'Univerita e della Ricerca (CNR-MIUR) Genomica Funzionale-Legge 449/97 (to A.T.), the Fondo Investimenti Ricerca di Base 2001 (to A.T.), the Progetti Ricerca Interesse Nazionale 2005 (to A.T.), the National Science Foundation (to N.H.), and Programa Operacional Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (to A. Amorim).

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Behar, D. M., 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. (2006). The matrilineal ancestry of Ashkenazi Jewry: Portrait of a recent founder event. American Journal of Human Genetics, 78(3), 487-497. https://doi.org/10.1086/500307

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title = "The matrilineal ancestry of Ashkenazi Jewry: Portrait of a recent founder event",

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.",

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

note = "Funding Information: We thank the individuals who provided samples for this study, the National Laboratory for the Genetics of Israeli Populations, which also provided samples, and Vered Friedman and Guennady Yudkovsky for technical assistance. This research was supported in part by Israeli Science Foundation grants (to K.S.), the Annie Chutick Endowment and Technion (to K.S.), the Estonian Science Foundation (to E.M. and T.K.), European Union Framework Programme Genemill and Genera grants (to R.V.), the Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche–Ministro dell'Istruzione dell'Univerita e della Ricerca (CNR-MIUR) Genomica Funzionale-Legge 449/97 (to A.T.), the Fondo Investimenti Ricerca di Base 2001 (to A.T.), the Progetti Ricerca Interesse Nazionale 2005 (to A.T.), the National Science Foundation (to N.H.), and Programa Operacional Ci{\^e}ncia, Tecnologia e Inova{\c c}{\~a}o (to A. Amorim). ",

year = "2006",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1086/500307",

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Behar, DM, 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 2006, 'The matrilineal ancestry of Ashkenazi Jewry: Portrait of a recent founder event', American Journal of Human Genetics, vol. 78, no. 3, pp. 487-497. https://doi.org/10.1086/500307

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AU - Behar, Doron M.

AU - Metspalu, Ene

AU - Kivisild, Toomas

AU - Achilli, Alessandro

AU - Hadid, Yarin

AU - Tzur, Shay

AU - Pereira, Luisa

AU - Amorim, Antonio

AU - Quintana-Murci, Lluis

AU - Majamaa, Kari

AU - Herrnstadt, Corinna

AU - Howell, Neil

AU - Balanovsky, Oleg

AU - Kutuev, Ildus

AU - Pshenichnov, Andrey

AU - Gurwitz, David

AU - Bonne-Tamir, Batsheva

AU - Torroni, Antonio

AU - Villems, Richard

AU - Skorecki, Karl

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the individuals who provided samples for this study, the National Laboratory for the Genetics of Israeli Populations, which also provided samples, and Vered Friedman and Guennady Yudkovsky for technical assistance. This research was supported in part by Israeli Science Foundation grants (to K.S.), the Annie Chutick Endowment and Technion (to K.S.), the Estonian Science Foundation (to E.M. and T.K.), European Union Framework Programme Genemill and Genera grants (to R.V.), the Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche–Ministro dell'Istruzione dell'Univerita e della Ricerca (CNR-MIUR) Genomica Funzionale-Legge 449/97 (to A.T.), the Fondo Investimenti Ricerca di Base 2001 (to A.T.), the Progetti Ricerca Interesse Nazionale 2005 (to A.T.), the National Science Foundation (to N.H.), and Programa Operacional Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (to A. Amorim).

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N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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JO - American Journal of Human Genetics

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ER -

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

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Bibliographical note

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