title: The genetic legacy of religious diversity and intolerance: paternal lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula.
abstract: Most studies of European genetic diversity have focused on large-scale variation and interpretations based on events in prehistory, but migrations and invasions in historical times could also have had profound effects on the genetic landscape. The Iberian Peninsula provides a suitable region for examination of the demographic impact of such recent events, because its complex recent history has involved the long-term residence of two very different populations with distinct geographical origins and their own particular cultural and religious characteristics-North African Muslims and Sephardic Jews. To address this issue, we analyzed Y chromosome haplotypes, which provide the necessary phylogeographic resolution, in 1140 males from the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands. Admixture analysis based on binary and Y-STR haplotypes indicates a high mean proportion of ancestry from North African (10.6%) and Sephardic Jewish (19.8%) sources. Despite alternative possible sources for lineages ascribed a Sephardic Jewish origin, these proportions attest to a high level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced), driven by historical episodes of social and religious intolerance, that ultimately led to the integration of descendants. In agreement with the historical record, analysis of haplotype sharing and diversity within specific haplogroups suggests that the Sephardic Jewish component is the more ancient. The geographical distribution of North African ancestry in the peninsula does not reflect the initial colonization and subsequent withdrawal and is likely to result from later enforced population movement-more marked in some regions than in others-plus the effects of genetic drift.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.forename: Patricia L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Balaresque
authors.forename: Stéphane J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ballereau
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arroyo
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: López-Parra
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aler
authors.forename: Marina S Gisbert
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Grifo
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brion
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carracedo
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lavinha
authors.forename: Begoña
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martínez-Jarreta
authors.forename: Lluis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quintana-Murci
authors.forename: Antònia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Picornell
authors.forename: Misericordia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramon
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Skorecki
authors.forename: Doron M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Behar
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Calafell
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jobling
mesh_terms: D002835:Christianity; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics; D003710:Demography; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D007585:Jews; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D044382:Population Groups / Q000235:genetics; D011174:Portugal; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers