“德系猶太人”線粒體DNA的測(cè)序顯示，母系猶太人可能起源于歐洲,。發(fā)表在本期Nature Communications上的這項(xiàng)研究表明,，“德系猶太人”的母系并不像人們有時(shí)所認(rèn)為的那樣是來(lái)自近東或高加索,，而是發(fā)源于歐洲地中海地區(qū)。
“德系猶太人”的起源仍有很大爭(zhēng)議,。利用有關(guān)從父方遺傳的Y染色體,、從母方遺傳的線粒體和從雙親遺傳的常染色體的遺傳信息所做的關(guān)系重建研究得出了矛盾的結(jié)論。其中一些研究表明他們的祖先主要來(lái)自近東（包括以色列/巴勒斯坦,、黎巴嫩,、敘利亞和約旦在內(nèi)的一個(gè)地區(qū)），而其他研究則表明他們的祖先大部分來(lái)自高加索,。
Martin Richards及同事對(duì)來(lái)自歐洲,、高加索和近東的74個(gè)線粒體基因組進(jìn)行了測(cè)序，對(duì)另外3500個(gè)線粒體基因組進(jìn)行了分析,，從而為“德系猶太人”的宗譜歷史提供了一個(gè)詳細(xì)重建結(jié)果,。該小組發(fā)現(xiàn)，“德系猶太人”線粒體DNA的差異中至少80%源于史前的歐洲,，而不是近東或高加索,。這意味著女性“德系猶太人”可能是在距今大約2000年前在歐洲被同化的。
他們提出,，這些結(jié)果突顯了吸收當(dāng)?shù)嘏院屯齻冊(cè)跉W洲“德系猶太人”社區(qū)形成中的重要性,，代表著在重建“德系猶太人”宗譜歷史方面所邁出的重要一步（生物谷Bioon.com）。
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
Nature Communications DOI:10.1038/ncomms3543
A substantial prehistoric European ancestry amongst Ashkenazi maternal lineages
Marta D. CostaJoana B. PereiraMaria PalaVerónica FernandesAnna Olivieri Alessandro AchilliUgo A. Perego Sergei Rychkov Oksana Naumova Jii Hatina Scott R. Woodward Ken Khong Eng Vincent Macaulay Martin Carr Pedro Soares Luísa Pereira Martin B. Richards
The origins of Ashkenazi Jews remain highly controversial. Like Judaism,， mitochondrial DNA is passed along the maternal line. Its variation in the Ashkenazim is highly distinctive,， with four major and numerous minor founders. However， due to their rarity in the general population,， these founders have been difficult to trace to a source. Here we show that all four major founders,， ~40% of Ashkenazi mtDNA variation， have ancestry in prehistoric Europe,， rather than the Near East or Caucasus. Furthermore,， most of the remaining minor founders share a similar deep European ancestry. Thus the great majority of Ashkenazi maternal lineages were not brought from the Levant， as commonly supposed,， nor recruited in the Caucasus,， as sometimes suggested， but assimilated within Europe. These results point to a significant role for the conversion of women in the formation of Ashkenazi communities,， and provide the foundation for a detailed reconstruction of Ashkenazi genealogical history.
