title: North African Jewish and non-Jewish populations form distinctive, orthogonal clusters.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Pier F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Palamara
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dubrovsky
authors.forename: Laura R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Botigué
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fellous
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Atzmon
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oddoux
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pearlman
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Brenna M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Henn
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Carlos D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Bustamante
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Comas
authors.forename: Eitan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Itsik
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pe'er
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ostrer
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005006:Ethnicity; D005828:Genetics, Population; D016678:Genome; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000235:genetics*; D007599:Judaism; D008957:Models, Genetic; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics