Posted on 07/15/2015 2:42:04 PM PDT by Pharmboy
‘Bottleneck’ dates back 600 to 800 years, genome analysis shows; researcher says among population ‘everyone is a 30th cousin.
Illustrative photo of Ashkenazi Jews, taken from Nurit Ben Sheetri's 'The Redheads' exhibit at Dizengoff Center (courtesy Nurit Ben Sheetrit)
A new study concludes that all Ashkenazi Jews can trace their ancestry to a “bottleneck” of just 350 individuals, dating back to between 600 and 800 years ago.
The study, published in the Nature Communications journal Tuesday, was authored by Shai Carmi, a computer science professor at Columbia University, and more than 20 medical researchers from Yale, Columbia, Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and other institutions.
Researchers analyzed the genomes of 128 Ashkenazi Jews and compared them to those of non-Jewish Europeans in order to determine which genetic markers are unique to Ashkenazi Jews. They found that the Ashkenazi Jews’ genetic similarities were so acute that one of the study’s researchers, Columbia professor Itsik Pe’er, told the Live Science website that among Ashkenazi Jews, “everyone is a 30th cousin.”
The findings will enable researchers to catalog nearly all of the genetic variations from the founding population, the study’s authors said. Such thorough genetic cataloging could help clinicians interpret individual genetic mutations, improve disease mapping and provide insight into the histories of Middle Eastern and European populations, the study said.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
Some interesting genetic stuff in here on non-Jewish Euros also.
I was under the impression that all Jews (and all people) descended from fewer people than that.
Interesting
Several redheads mentioned in Jewish bloodlines, such as Esau and King David.
And the cat?
What religion is the cat?
Catolic.
Clearly.
FYI ping
I also think it interesting that Ramses The Great was a red head.
The Ashkenaz bottleneck was “between 600 and 800 years ago,” but the Ashekenaz - Sefardi split goes back a few hundred years before that, as evidenced by Rabbenu Gershom, whose prohibition of polygamy was binding on Ashkenazim but not Sefardim.
Most likely a larger Jewish population in Europe was all but wiped out at the bottleneck, possibly fallout from the Crusades.
And the colors are actually very different.
My mother’s side of the family have Ashkenazi markers. And some redheads, too, but they appeared to be very Celtic.
The first Jew was born to Abraham and Sarah and was named Isaac. Now where’s my grant money? How much money was spent on this research?
Was it last seen driving a Cat-tilac?
Cat is clearly Meowsaic.
RE: Ashkenazi Jews descend from 350 people
If they dug further, I won’t be surprised to find that the number will go down to 8, and eventually 2.
The definition has been expanded (by whom and how I'm not sure) to include anyone of the Jewish faith.
LOL..........LOL........LOL!
‘Jew’ and ‘Jewish’ aren’t official terms. The technical term is ‘ben/bat yisrael’ (son/daughter of Israel).
The Bible relates that Mordechai of the Tribe of Benjamin was called ‘ish Yehudi’ (Jewish man), so the term apparently goes back to the Kingdom of Judah which included the Tribe of Levi and remnants of the other tribes.
You made me chuckle heartily.
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