A genetic study of Ashkenazi Jews shows a “whiter” heritage drawn more from prehistoric Europe than from the Levant, home to the modern state of Israel.
A team of international researchers from Malaysia to Salt Lake City found in a study published Tuesday that most variance in mitochondrial DNA — passed from mother to daughter, like Judaism — derives from the indigenous peoples of Western and Central Europe, as opposed to the Levant, as previously thought. Four of the major “founders” of Ashkenazi Jewry derive most variance from European sources, accounting for some 40 percent of the genome. The remaining 60 percent from minor founders, too, comes mostly from 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,” lead investigator, Martin Richards, and his colleagues wrote. “The origins of Ashkenazi Jews—the great majority of living Jews—remain highly contested and enigmatic to this day.”
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