Study: Falasha's Not Genetically Jewish
Ethioguide ExclusiveA study of the genetic code of the Falasha reveals that they were descended from ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia and not Jews from Palestine, two French geneticists announced in a study published in a scientific journal.
Gerard Lucotte and Pierre Smets of the Centre Regional de Neurogenetique Moleculaire in Paris, France, studied the DNA code of 38 unrelated Falasha males living in Israel and 104 Ethiopians living in regions located north of Addis Ababa.
"The distinctiveness of the Y-chromosome haplotype distribution of Falasha Jews from conventional Jewish populations and their relatively greater similarity in haplotype profile to non-Jewish Ethiopians are consistent with the view that the Falasha people descended from ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia who converted to Judaism," Lucotte and Smets wrote in the December 1999 issue of Human Biology.
The scientists did find Falashas to be different genetically from other Ethiopians, but they attributed the difference to "genetic drift."
"These singularities indicate a mode of genetic differentiation of Falasha Jews based on genetic drift, which is a major force on small isolated
populations," Lucotte and Smets wrote.Interestingly, the scientists also found the Haplotype VIII, the ancestral haplotype in Jews, in 23.1 % of non-Falasha Ethiopians. They said that this haplotype also occurred at similarly high frequencies in sample of Lebanese and Palestinians. The geneticists therefore concluded that the elevated representations may occur in most Semitic groups.
Origins of Falasha Jews studied by Haplotypes of the Y chromosome
Human Biology
Detroit; Dec 1999
Gerard Lucotte and Pierre Smets;
DNA samples from Falasha Jews and Ethiopians were studied with the Y-chromosome-specific DNA probe p49a to screen for Taql restriction polymorphisms and haplotypes. Two haplotypes (V and XI) are the most widespread in Falashas and Ethiopians, representing about 70% of the total number of haplotypes in Ethiopia. Because the Jewish haplotypes VII and VIII are not represented in the Falasha population, we conclude that the Falasha people descended from ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia who converted to Judaism.
Abstract DNA samples from Falasha Jews and Ethiopians were studied with the Y-chromosome-specific DNA probe p49a to screen for Taql restriction polymorphisms and haplotypes. Two haplotypes (V and XI) are the most widespread in Falashas and Ethiopians, representing about 70% of the total number of haplotypes in Ethiopia. Because the Jewish haplotypes VII and VIII are not represented in the Falasha population, we conclude that the Falasha people descended from ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia who converted to Judaism.
KEY WORDS: Y-CHROMOSOME HAPLOTYPES, JEWS, ETHIOPIANS
Falashas are Ethiopian Jews who migrated to Israel recently. They claim to be descendants of Jews who came to Ethiopia with Menelik I, the
alleged son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. They speak Amharic, a Semitic language. The informative p49f-a Y-chromosome-specific DNA probe (Lucotte and Ngo 1985), mapped to the Yq1 1.2 region (Quack et al. 1988), reveals 10 male-specific TaqI fragments, at least 5 of which (A, C, D, F, and 1) are polymorphic and determine 16 main haplotypes (I to XVI) in France (Ngo et al. 1986). Initial studies (Lucotte and David 1992; Lucotte et al. 1993) established that all 16 haplotypes are also found in Jewish populations; however, 2 of them [haplotype VIT (A2,CO,DJ,Fl,IO) and haplotype VIII (A2,CO,D1,F1j1)] are the most widespread in Jews, representing more than 50% of the total number of haplotypes. These global results were further confirmed in at least 3 independent laboratories (Santachiara-Benerecetti et al. 1993; Ritte et al. 1993a; Spurdle and Jenkins 1996); moreover, ancestry of haplotype VIII in Jews has been established (Lucotte et al. 1996).
Haplotype distributions in Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews are similar (Lucotte et al. 1993), but the Oriental haplotype XI (A3,CO,DO,F1j])
(Persichetti et al. 1992; Jobling 1994) and the European haplotype XV (A3,C1,D2,F1,Hl) (Lucotte and Hazout 1996) are more frequent in the
Ashkenazim, whereas the African haplotype IV (Al,CO,DO,Fl,Il) (Torroni et al. 1990; Spurdle and Jenkins 1992; Lucotte et al. 1994) and the
Arabic haplotype V (A2,CO,DO,Fl,IL) (Lucotte, unpublished data, 1997) are more frequent in the Sephardim. This indicates that in the various
Jewish communities haplotypes vary somewhat in frequency depending on population origin.
The frequencies of Y-chromosome haplotypes in Falasha Jews and Ethiopians are given in Table 1. The 38 Falasha males were unrelated adults
living in Israel, and the 104 Ethiopians (who speak Cushitic) originated in regions located north of Addis Ababa (Figure 1). Table 1 shows that
the Jewish haplotypes VII and VIII are not represented in our Falasha sample and that the Arabic haplotype V (as for the non-Falasha
Ethiopians) is the main haplotype present (60.5% and 40.4%, respectively). The second most commonly found haplotype in Falasha Jews and
Ethiopians (26.3% and 25.9%, respectively) is the Oriental haplotype XI. The proportions of the 3 main haplotypes in Ethiopians (haplotypes V,
VIII, and XI) are not much different from those recently reported by Passarino et al. (1998). Haplotype VI (A2,CO,D1,F0j1) is the third
haplotype present in Falasha Jews (10.5%), but it is absent in our sample of Ethiopians. The distinctiveness of the Y-chromosome haplotype
distribution of Falasha Jews from conventional Jewish populations (absence of haplotypes VH and VIII) and their relatively greater similarity in
haplotype profile to nonJewish Ethiopians (presence of haplotypes V and Xl) are consistent with the view that the Falasha people descended
from ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia who converted to Judaism (Ullendorff 1968). A similar genetic affinity of Falasha Jews with Ethiopians also
emerges from analyses of the Y chromosome (Ritte et al. 1993a) and the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes (Hakim et al. 1990;
Zoosmann-Diskin et al. 1991; Ritte et al. 1993b). Absence of haplotype VIII in Falasha Jews could be due to sampling error (only 38 Falasha
Jews were examined in this study). The relatively high frequency of haplotype VI in the Falasha Jews-a haplotype rarely found in Europe
(Lucotte and Hazout 1996) or in African populations (Spurdle and Jenkins 1992)-sets the Falasha Jews apart from Ethiopians. These
singularities indicate a mode of genetic differentiation of Falasha Jews based on genetic drift, which is a major force on small isolated
populations.
An important point to consider is the result concerning haplotype VIll, the ancestral haplotype in Jews (Lucotte et al. 1996); this haplotype is
present at a frequency of 23.1% in non-Falasha Ethiopians. In fact, the Jewish haplotypes VII and VIII occurred at similarly high frequencies in
samples of Lebanese (Santachiara-Benerecetti et al. 1993) and Palestinians (Lucotte, unpublished data, 1997); so it seems more practical, as
proposed by Spurdle and Jenkins (1996), to consider that elevated frequencies of these 2 haplotypes may represent most of the Semitic groups.
[Reference]
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[Author note]
GERARD LUCOTTE1 AND PIERRE SMETS1
[Author note]
1International Institute of Anthropology, 1 place d'16na, 75016 Paris, France.
Address correspondence to Girard Lucotte, Centre Regional de Neurogenetique Moleculaire (Service de Neurologie), Hospital Maison-Blanche, 45 rue Cognacq-Jay, 51092 Reims Cedex, France.
[Author note]
Received 29 June 1998; revision received 17 March 1999.