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. 2008 Dec;83(6):725-36.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007.

The genetic legacy of religious diversity and intolerance: paternal lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula

Susan M Adams  1 , Elena Bosch, Patricia L Balaresque, Stéphane J Ballereau, Andrew C Lee, Eduardo Arroyo, Ana M López-Parra, Mercedes Aler, Marina S Gisbert Grifo, Maria Brion, Angel Carracedo, João Lavinha, Begoña Martínez-Jarreta, Lluis Quintana-Murci, Antònia Picornell, Misericordia Ramon, Karl Skorecki, Doron M Behar, Francesc Calafell, Mark A Jobling
Affiliations

The genetic legacy of religious diversity and intolerance: paternal lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula

Susan M Adams et al. Am J Hum Genet. 2008 Dec.

Abstract

Most studies of European genetic diversity have focused on large-scale variation and interpretations based on events in prehistory, but migrations and invasions in historical times could also have had profound effects on the genetic landscape. The Iberian Peninsula provides a suitable region for examination of the demographic impact of such recent events, because its complex recent history has involved the long-term residence of two very different populations with distinct geographical origins and their own particular cultural and religious characteristics-North African Muslims and Sephardic Jews. To address this issue, we analyzed Y chromosome haplotypes, which provide the necessary phylogeographic resolution, in 1140 males from the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands. Admixture analysis based on binary and Y-STR haplotypes indicates a high mean proportion of ancestry from North African (10.6%) and Sephardic Jewish (19.8%) sources. Despite alternative possible sources for lineages ascribed a Sephardic Jewish origin, these proportions attest to a high level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced), driven by historical episodes of social and religious intolerance, that ultimately led to the integration of descendants. In agreement with the historical record, analysis of haplotype sharing and diversity within specific haplogroups suggests that the Sephardic Jewish component is the more ancient. The geographical distribution of North African ancestry in the peninsula does not reflect the initial colonization and subsequent withdrawal and is likely to result from later enforced population movement-more marked in some regions than in others-plus the effects of genetic drift.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Y-Chromosomal Haplogroups in Iberian, North African, and Sephardic Jewish Samples Binary marker phylogeny of the Y chromosome, showing mutations on the branches of the tree, and shorthand haplogroup names immediately beneath. Haplogroups unobserved in any sample are indicated by dashed branches on the tree. Below the phylogeny are given the percentages of chromosomes carrying the observed haplogroup. Abbreviations are as follows: n, sample size; h, Nei's unbiased estimator of gene diversity. Data on North African populations are from the literature (see footnotes). a Data from Bosch et al. b Data from Arredi et al., with haplogroup prediction for hgG. c Subhaplogroups of R1b3 were not typed in the Sephardic Jewish sample.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Haplogroup Distributions in Iberian, North African, and Sephardic Jewish Populations Haplogroup profiles of samples from the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, published North African samples,, and a Sephardic Jewish sample. Sectors in pie charts are colored according to haplogroup in the schematic tree to the right, and sector areas are proportional to haplogroup frequency. Sample names, abbreviations, and sizes (within pie charts) are indicated. Subhaplogroups of R1b3 were not typed in the Sephardic Jewish sample.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) Plots Illustrating the Relationships among Iberian, North African, and Sephardic Jewish Populations A) MDS plot based on population pairwise FST values from haplogroup data, including Iberian, North African, and Sephardic Jewish samples. All haplogroups carrying the derived allele at M269 are pooled into hgR1b3 for the purposes of this analysis. Abbreviations of population names are as in Figure 1. B) MDS plot based on population pairwise RST values from eight-locus Y-STR data, including Iberian, North African, and Sephardic Jewish samples. C) MDS plot based on population pairwise FST values from haplogroup data, including only Iberian samples. Abbreviations of population names are as in Figure 1. D) MDS plot based on population pairwise RST values from 17-locus Y-STR data, including only Iberian samples.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Iberian, North African, and Sephardic Jewish Admixture Proportions among Iberian Peninsula Samples Mean North African, Sephardic Jewish, and Iberian admixture proportions among Iberian samples, based on the mY estimator and on Moroccan, Sephardic Jewish, and Basque parental populations, are represented on a map as shaded bars on bar charts. Error bars indicate standard deviations, and three-letter codes indicate populations, as given in Figure 1.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Diversity of Y-STR Haplotypes Belonging to Haplogroups E3b2 and G A) Reduced median network containing the eight-locus Y-STR (DYS19, DYS388, DYS389I, DYS389II-I, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393) haplotypes of 170 hgE3b2 chromosomes. North African haplotypes include those from Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, and Saharawi samples. Circles represent haplotypes, with area proportional to frequency and colored according to population, as shown in the key. B) Analogous network for 82 chromosomes within hgG.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Diversity of Y-STR Haplotypes Belonging to Haplogroup R1b3 Reduced median network containing the eight-locus Y-STR (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II-I, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS439) haplotypes of 767 hgR1b3 chromosomes, from Iberian populations and the Sephardic Jewish and Moroccan parental samples used in admixture analysis. Circles represent haplotypes, with area proportional to frequency and colored according to population, as shown in the key. For Iberian data, hgs R1b3b, R1b3d, R1b3f, and R1b3g have been combined into hgR1b3, because these sublineages were not distinguished in the Sephardic Jewish sample.
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