Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Aug 21;109(34):13865-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1204840109. Epub 2012 Aug 6.
North African Jews constitute the second largest Jewish Diaspora group. However, their relatedness to each other; to European, Middle Eastern, and other Jewish Diaspora groups; and to their former North African non-Jewish neighbors has not been well defined. Here, genome-wide analysis of five North African Jewish groups (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Djerban, and Libyan) and comparison with other Jewish and non-Jewish groups demonstrated distinctive North African Jewish population clusters with proximity to other Jewish populations and variable degrees of Middle Eastern, European, and North African admixture. Two major subgroups were identified by principal component, neighbor joining tree, and identity-by-descent analysis-Moroccan/Algerian and Djerban/Libyan-that varied in their degree of European admixture. These populations showed a high degree of endogamy and were part of a larger Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish group. By principal component analysis, these North African groups were orthogonal to contemporary populations from North and South Morocco, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. Thus, this study is compatible with the history of North African Jews-founding during Classical Antiquity with proselytism of local populations, followed by genetic isolation with the rise of Christianity and then Islam, and admixture following the emigration of Sephardic Jews during the Inquisition.
北非犹太人是第二大犹太散居群体。然而，他们彼此之间、与欧洲、中东和其他犹太散居群体之间、以及与他们以前的北非非犹太邻居之间的亲缘关系尚未得到很好的定义。在这里，对五个北非犹太群体（摩洛哥、阿尔及利亚、突尼斯、杰尔巴和利比亚）的全基因组分析，并与其他犹太和非犹太群体进行比较，表明具有独特的北非犹太人群聚类，与其他犹太人群体接近，并且具有不同程度的中东、欧洲和北非混合。通过主成分、邻居joining 树和基于身份的分析，确定了两个主要的亚群——摩洛哥/阿尔及利亚和杰尔巴/利比亚，它们在欧洲混合程度上有所不同。这些群体表现出高度的同婚性，是更大的阿什肯纳兹和塞法迪犹太群体的一部分。通过主成分分析，这些北非群体与来自摩洛哥北部和南部、西撒哈拉、突尼斯、利比亚和埃及的当代人群正交。因此，这项研究与北非犹太人的历史是一致的——在古典古代建立，通过当地人口的改宗，随后随着基督教和伊斯兰教的兴起而出现遗传隔离，以及在宗教裁判所期间塞法迪犹太人移民后的混合。
