Colorado's Mexican Indians share a genetic marker with Ashkenazi Jews

As reported by RT News, May 31, 2012:

A population of native American Indians from the US state of Colorado has been found to have a genetic mutation typical of Ashkenazi Jews. The finding suggests the presence of common roots that date back to the days of Christopher Columbus.

­The so-called “Ashkenazi mutation” is a deleterious modification in BRCA1 gene which increases risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Researchers from the Sheba Medical Center in Israel have found it in the DNA of descendants of those Indians who moved from Mexico to Colorado some 200 years ago.

The same very mutation was earlier tracked in Hispanic Americans whose ancestors also arrived in the United States from Mexico and South America.

Computer analysis of genetic data has revealed that the two groups should have a common ancestor – a Jewish person who moved from Europe to the New World as long as 600 years ago. It was the time when Christopher Columbus discovered America, and the Jewish population was expelled from Spain.

In their publication in the European Journal of Human Genetics, the team, led by Eitan Friedman, notes that Colorado’s Mexican Indians do not seem to have any traditions that would link them to Jews.

Genomic study shows that Jews throughout the world share a genetic history

This item is a couple of years old, but still relevant. As reported by Dudi Goldman of Ynet News, June 9, 2010:

A new study, the largest of its kind ever conducted, reveals that the Jewish people shares clear genomic significance. Apparently, the genetic similarity between a Jewish Italian and a Jewish Pole is larger than the similarity between Jewish Pole and a Christian Pole, for instance.

"The Jewish communities share much more (genetic information) between Jews rather than non-Jews in the same geographic area," Dr. Gil Atzmon, co-author of the study and professor of genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Genetics, told the New York Post.

Some 237 Jews of representing the three major Diaspora communities, including Ashkenazi Jews from throughout Europe, Sephardim, and Mizrahim from Syria, Iran, and Iraq, participated in the study.

Shared genetic history

The study found that Ashkenazim share genetic density that could suggest that most of them are ancestors of a small number of original mothers. The researchers noted that the level of relatedness among Ashkenazi Jews is similar to the level of relatedness between fifth-degree cousins.

This is not the first study attempting to isolate a genetic thread among Jews. However, it is the first to show clear and unequivocal genetic significance. The study, titled "The Children of Abraham in the Genome Era," was recently published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

"We found that Jewish communities created their own genetic clusters," said Atzmon.

Genetic analysis from the study showed that two major groups of Jews, Middle Eastern Jews and European Jews, diverged nearly 2500 years ago.

"The study supports the idea of a Jewish people linked by a shared genetic history," explained the study's senior author, Prof. Harry Ostrer of New York University.

"The goal of the study was to determine a genomic baseline,” said lead author Gil Atzmon, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and of genetics at Einstein. “With this established, we’ll be able to more easily identify genes associated with complex disorders like diabetes that are determined by multiple variants across the genome. Armed with this information, we will be better positioned to treat patients.”

Go here to see the original article in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Jewish populations in Yemen and Ethiopia have distinct histories

From the abstract of the article Mitochondrial DNA reveals distinct evolutionary histories for Jewish populations in Yemen and Ethiopia by Amy L. Non, Ali Al-Meeri, et. al., published in the January 2011 issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology:

A high frequency of sub-Saharan African L haplogroups was found in both Jewish populations, indicating a significant African maternal contribution unlike other Jewish Diaspora populations. However, no identical haplotypes were shared between the Yemenite and Ethiopian Jewish populations, suggesting very little gene flow between the populations and potentially distinct maternal population histories...Specifically, Yemenite Jewish mitochondrial diversity reflects potential descent from ancient Israeli exiles and shared African and Middle Eastern ancestry with little evidence for large-scale conversion of local Yemeni. In contrast, the Ethiopian Jewish population appears to be a subset of the larger Ethiopian population suggesting descent primarily through conversion of local women.