Samaritan mtDNA and Y chromosomes
Hum Mutat. 2004 Sep;24(3):248-60.
Reconstruction of patrilineages and matrilineages of
Samaritans and other Israeli populations from Y-Chromosome and
mitochondrial DNA sequence Variation.
P. Shen et al.
The Samaritan community, which numbered more than a million in late
Roman times and only 146 in 1917, numbers today about 640 people
representing four large families. They are culturally different from
both Jewish and non-Jewish populations in the Middle East and their
origin remains a question of great interest. Genetic differences between
the Samaritans and neighboring Jewish and non-Jewish populations are
corroborated in the present study of 7,280 bp of nonrecombining
Y-chromosome and 5,622 bp of coding and hypervariable segment I (HVS-I)
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. Comparative sequence analysis was
carried out on 12 Samaritan Y-chromosome, and mtDNA samples from nine
male and seven female Samaritans separated by at least two generations.
In addition, 18-20 male individuals were analyzed, each representing
Ethiopian, Ashkenazi, Iraqi, Libyan, Moroccan, and Yemenite Jews, as
well as Druze and Palestinians, all currently living in Israel. The four
Samaritan families clustered to four distinct Y-chromosome haplogroups
according to their patrilineal identity. Of the 16 Samaritan mtDNA
samples, 14 carry either of two mitochondrial haplotypes that are rare
or absent among other worldwide ethnic groups.
Principal
component analysis suggests a common ancestry of Samaritan and Jewish
patrilineages. Most of the former may be traced back to a common
ancestor in the paternally-inherited Jewish high priesthood (Cohanim) at
the time of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel.
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