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Research Article

North African Jewish and non-Jewish populations form distinctive, orthogonal clusters

Christopher L. Campbell, Pier F. Palamara, Maya Dubrovsky, Laura R. Botigué, Marc Fellous, Gil Atzmon, Carole Oddoux, Alexander Pearlman, Li Hao, Brenna M. Henn, Edward Burns, Carlos D. Bustamante, David Comas, Eitan Friedman, Itsik Pe'er, and Harry Ostrer
PNAS first published August 6, 2012; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204840109
Christopher L. Campbell
Departments of aPathology,
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Pier F. Palamara
bDepartment of Computer Science, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027;
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Maya Dubrovsky
cSusanne Levy Gertner Oncogenetics Unit, Danek Gertner Institute of Human Genetics, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer 52621, Israel;
dSackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel;
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Laura R. Botigué
eInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain;
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Marc Fellous
fCochin Institute, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale 567, 75014 Paris, France;
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Gil Atzmon
gMedicine, and
hGenetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461;
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Carole Oddoux
Departments of aPathology,
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Alexander Pearlman
Departments of aPathology,
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Li Hao
iCenter for Genome Informatics, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101; and
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Brenna M. Henn
jDepartment of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
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Edward Burns
gMedicine, and
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Carlos D. Bustamante
jDepartment of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
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David Comas
eInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain;
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Eitan Friedman
cSusanne Levy Gertner Oncogenetics Unit, Danek Gertner Institute of Human Genetics, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer 52621, Israel;
dSackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel;
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Itsik Pe'er
bDepartment of Computer Science, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027;
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Harry Ostrer
Departments of aPathology,
hGenetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461;
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  • For correspondence: harry.ostrer@einstein.yu.edu
  1. Edited* by Arno G. Motulsky, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, and approved July 3, 2012 (received for review March 23, 2012)

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Abstract

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.

  • Jewish genetics
  • population genetics
  • North African genetics
  • identical by descent sharing
  • deep ancestry

Footnotes

  • ↵1C.L.C., P.F.P., and M.D. contributed equally to this work.

  • ↵2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: harry.ostrer{at}einstein.yu.edu.
  • Author contributions: C.L.C., P.F.P., M.D., L.R.B., M.F., G.A., C.O., A.P., L.H., B.M.H., E.B., C.D.B., D.C., E.F., I.P., and H.O. designed research; C.L.C., P.F.P., M.D., L.H., I.P., and H.O. performed research; C.L.C., P.F.P., M.D., L.H., I.P., and H.O. analyzed data; and C.L.C., P.F.P., M.D., L.R.B., G.A., B.M.H., I.P., and H.O. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • ↵*This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1204840109/-/DCSupplemental.

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Jewish populations form distinctive clusters
Christopher L. Campbell, Pier F. Palamara, Maya Dubrovsky, Laura R. Botigué, Marc Fellous, Gil Atzmon, Carole Oddoux, Alexander Pearlman, Li Hao, Brenna M. Henn, Edward Burns, Carlos D. Bustamante, David Comas, Eitan Friedman, Itsik Pe'er, Harry Ostrer
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2012, 201204840; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1204840109

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Jewish populations form distinctive clusters
Christopher L. Campbell, Pier F. Palamara, Maya Dubrovsky, Laura R. Botigué, Marc Fellous, Gil Atzmon, Carole Oddoux, Alexander Pearlman, Li Hao, Brenna M. Henn, Edward Burns, Carlos D. Bustamante, David Comas, Eitan Friedman, Itsik Pe'er, Harry Ostrer
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2012, 201204840; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1204840109
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