Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Shlush, Liran I
• Behar, Doron M
• Yudkovsky, Guennady
• Templeton, Alan
• Hadid, Yarin
• Basis, Fuad
• Hammer, Michael
• Itzkovitz, Shalev
• Skorecki, Karl
• Gemmell, Neil John

Titel

The Druze: a population genetic refugium of the Near East

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2008-05, Vol.3 (5), p.e2105-e2105

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2008

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Phylogenetic mitochondrial DNA haplogroups are highly partitioned across global geographic regions. A unique exception is the X haplogroup, which has a widespread global distribution without major regions of distinct localization. We have examined mitochondrial DNA sequence variation together with Y-chromosome-based haplogroup structure among the Druze, a religious minority with a unique socio-demographic history residing in the Near East. We observed a striking overall pattern of heterogeneous parental origins, consistent with Druze oral tradition, together with both a high frequency and a high diversity of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) X haplogroup within a confined regional subpopulation. Furthermore demographic modeling indicated low migration rates with nearby populations. These findings were enabled through the use of a paternal kindred based sampling approach, and suggest that the Galilee Druze represent a population isolate, and that the combination of a high frequency and diversity of the mtDNA X haplogroup signifies a phylogenetic refugium, providing a sample snapshot of the genetic landscape of the Near East prior to the modern age.