 "Indian Jews have overwhelmingly South Asian ancestry: Study")
The Indian Jewish community carries "overwhelmingly" South Asian ancestry with a "minor proportion" of the Middle Eastern genes, according to a study conducted by the scientists of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here and others.
"To trace the origin and mixture of Indian Jewish populations, the researchers have analysed the DNA of Indian Jewish using high resolution genetic markers and compared them with native Indian populations and people from rest of the world," an official release quoted Ch Mohan Rao, Director, CCMB, as saying.
The analysis suggests that the Indian Jewish possesses traces of Middle Eastern ancestry together with more likely unidirectional gene flow from their contemporary Indian populations, the release stated.
"However, sharing of specific maternally inherited mtDNA and paternally inherited Y-chromosomal haplogroups between all the studied Indian Jewish and lack of them among other local Indian populations can be seen as a remnant of a shared ancestry with Middle Eastern population," it said.
The team also estimated that the first migrant Jewish entered to Indian subcontinent (Cochin) about 1500 years ago.
CCMB under CSIR (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research) has been conducting basic research in frontier areas of modern biology and is engaged in finding out the genetic links of several populations under one of its research programmes, Population Genetics.
"The origin and migration of 'Jewish diaspora'has been curious among people across the world. Although the genetic studies on European Jewish have traced to Middle East, the exact parental population group and time of dispersal of Indian Jewish has remained disputed.
"The Jewish communities are distributed throughout the world, however, of all the Jewish diaspora community, Indian Jewish are among the least studied," the release stated.
This study was published in the recent issue of the Nature's online journal Scientific Reports.
The international teamof scientists, led by Kumarasamy Thangarajfrom CCMB Hyderabad and involving scientists from Estonian Biocentre, Tratu, Estonia, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, University of Kolkata, and Genome Foundation, Hyderabad, have traced the founder of the Indian Jewish populations, using genetic data.
The task was carried out despite the absence of archaeological evidence and with the availability of scanty historical documentation of the Indian Jewish.
There are three main distinct Jewish groups living in India -- the Jews of Cochin in Kerala, the Bene Israel in Mumbai and Baghdadi Jews in Kolkata. Each of these communities are socially linked to their neighbours than one another, stated the release.
There are several legendary stories about their migrations to India, but because of the lack of written records and inscriptions, the origin and migrations of Indian Jewish remain shrouded in legends, it said.
"The expansion of the Indian Jewish from Middle East was followed by extensive admixture and assimilation with the local populations; nevertheless the rooted ancestry to their ancestral place can be testified because of a higher proportion of genetic lineages of Middle East origin," the release quoted Thangaraj as saying.
"The initial admixture with local Indian populations followed by strict endogamy has made Indian Jewish a unique populations and studying their genomes will be useful in disease mapping," said Gyaneshwer Chaubey, a member of the research team.
"To trace the origin and mixture of Indian Jewish populations, the researchers have analysed the DNA of Indian Jewish using high resolution genetic markers and compared them with native Indian populations and people from rest of the world," an official release quoted Ch Mohan Rao, Director, CCMB, as saying.
The analysis suggests that the Indian Jewish possesses traces of Middle Eastern ancestry together with more likely unidirectional gene flow from their contemporary Indian populations, the release stated.
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"Interestingly, the Indian Jewish carry overwhelmingly South Asian ancestry and the proportion of Middle Eastern genetic ancestry was minor. The analyses of autosomal data revealed a high level of heterogeneity among the Indian Jewish groups and their closeness with the local neighbours.
"However, sharing of specific maternally inherited mtDNA and paternally inherited Y-chromosomal haplogroups between all the studied Indian Jewish and lack of them among other local Indian populations can be seen as a remnant of a shared ancestry with Middle Eastern population," it said.
The team also estimated that the first migrant Jewish entered to Indian subcontinent (Cochin) about 1500 years ago.
CCMB under CSIR (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research) has been conducting basic research in frontier areas of modern biology and is engaged in finding out the genetic links of several populations under one of its research programmes, Population Genetics.
"The origin and migration of 'Jewish diaspora'has been curious among people across the world. Although the genetic studies on European Jewish have traced to Middle East, the exact parental population group and time of dispersal of Indian Jewish has remained disputed.
"The Jewish communities are distributed throughout the world, however, of all the Jewish diaspora community, Indian Jewish are among the least studied," the release stated.
This study was published in the recent issue of the Nature's online journal Scientific Reports.
The international teamof scientists, led by Kumarasamy Thangarajfrom CCMB Hyderabad and involving scientists from Estonian Biocentre, Tratu, Estonia, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, University of Kolkata, and Genome Foundation, Hyderabad, have traced the founder of the Indian Jewish populations, using genetic data.
The task was carried out despite the absence of archaeological evidence and with the availability of scanty historical documentation of the Indian Jewish.
There are three main distinct Jewish groups living in India -- the Jews of Cochin in Kerala, the Bene Israel in Mumbai and Baghdadi Jews in Kolkata. Each of these communities are socially linked to their neighbours than one another, stated the release.
There are several legendary stories about their migrations to India, but because of the lack of written records and inscriptions, the origin and migrations of Indian Jewish remain shrouded in legends, it said.
"The expansion of the Indian Jewish from Middle East was followed by extensive admixture and assimilation with the local populations; nevertheless the rooted ancestry to their ancestral place can be testified because of a higher proportion of genetic lineages of Middle East origin," the release quoted Thangaraj as saying.
"The initial admixture with local Indian populations followed by strict endogamy has made Indian Jewish a unique populations and studying their genomes will be useful in disease mapping," said Gyaneshwer Chaubey, a member of the research team.