GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2010-06 > 1275727677


From: Vincent Vizachero <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Genetics of the Jews
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 04:47:57 -0400
References: <420734.69521.qm@web52104.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <420734.69521.qm@web52104.mail.re2.yahoo.com>


On Jun 5, 2010, at 12:35 AM, ellen Levy wrote:

> One intriguing findings is the apparent genetic connection between
> the Adygei, a Caucasian population, and Ashkenazim. This is not the
> first study to have found this unexpected genetic link. Sorry,
> can't recall the title of the previous study, but it found genetic
> relatedness between the Adygei, Ashkenazim, Egyptians and Greeks.
> The suggestion was that these groups might contain genetic remnants
> of a very ancient Mediterranean population that pre-dated the Arab
> populations that settled later in the Middle East.

Keep in mind that this study (and others) exhibit a paucity of
appropriate out-of-sample comparison populations. This study included
few non-Jewish samples, and none were east of Italy or south of Russia
except for the Adygei sample.

Rather than imagine that the Adygei are especially relevant, I suggest
people focus on the fact that they are a "stand in" for any number of
other nearby populations that should have been tested but weren't.
Including non-Jewish samples from Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Iraq,
etc. would be necessary in order for us to know whether the Adygei's
genetic distance to the Jewish populations is special or typical.

VV

This thread: