Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes

Haplotypes constructed from Y-chromosome markers were used to trace the pat ernal origins of the Jewish Diaspora, A set of 18 biallelic polymorphisms w as genotyped in 1,371 males from 29 populations, including 7 Jewish (Ashken azi, Roman, North African, Kurdish, Near Eastern, Yemenite, and Ethiopian)a nd 16 non-Jewish groups from similar geographic locations. The Jewish popul ations were characterized by a diverse set of 13 haplotypes that were also present in non-Jewish populations from Africa, Asia, and Europe. A series o f analyses was performed to address whether modern Jewish Y-chromosome dive rsity derives mainly from a common Middle Eastern source population or from admixture with neighboring non-Jewish populations during and after the Dia spora. Despite their long-term residence in different countries and isolati on from one another, most Jewish populations were not significantly differe nt from one another at the genetic level. Admixture estimates suggested low levels of European Y-chromosome gene flow into Ashkenazi and Roman Jewish communities. A multidimensional scaling plot placed six of the seven Jewish populations in a relatively tight cluster that was interspersed with Middl e Eastern non-Jewish populations, including Palestinians and Syrians. Pairw ise differentiation tests further indicated that these Jewish and Middle Ea stern non-Jewish populations were not statistically different. The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish communities f rom Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East descended from a common Middl e Eastern ancestral population, and suggest that most Jewish communities ha ve remained relatively isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities dur ing and after the Diaspora.