Abstract
Approximately 300,000 men around the globe self-identify as Ashkenazi Levites, of whom two thirds were previously shown to descend from a single male. The paucity of whole Y-chromosome sequences precluded conclusive identification of this ancestor’s age, geographic origin and migration patterns. Here, we report the variation of 486 Y-chromosomes within the Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Levite R1a clade, other Ashkenazi Jewish paternal lineages, as well as non-Levite Jewish and non-Jewish R1a samples. Cumulatively, the emerging profile is of a Middle Eastern ancestor, self-affiliating as Levite, and carrying the highly resolved R1a-Y2619 lineage, which was likely a minor haplogroup among the Hebrews. A star-like phylogeny, coalescing similarly to other Ashkenazi paternal lineages, ~1,743 ybp, suggests it to be one of the Ashkenazi paternal founders; to have expanded as part of the overall Ashkenazi demographic expansion, without special relation to the Levite affiliation; and to have subsequently spread to non-Ashkenazi Levites.
Highlights
IntroductionIt is worthwhile to go back to the beginning. The evolution of surnames, family names or last names varies around the world[1]
Sometimes, it is worthwhile to go back to the beginning
It was shown that the paternal ancestry found among Ashkenazi Levites is dominated by a set of tightly evolving Y chromosome lineages falling within haplogroup R1a-M198 which was, at the time of publication, the most resolved branch known on this evolutionary path[18]
Summary
It is worthwhile to go back to the beginning. The evolution of surnames, family names or last names varies around the world[1]. The better resolved whole Y chromosome based phylogeny of haplogroup R1a, showed that 100% of these samples could be reassigned to the refined haplogroup R1a-M582 This distinctive R1a-M582 lineage was found, other than in Ashkenazi Jews, among 15.7% males self-affiliating as non-Ashkenazi Levites and, importantly, at low frequencies only in the Middle East, consistent with this location as its ancestral origin[20]. 179 are novel, including 65 R1a-M582 samples that were collected following expert genealogical input This set of 65 samples consists of males with 56 different surnames, who claim to have an Ashkenazi Levite paternal origin. Additional samples were included to provide the appropriate phylogenetic framework for the studied haplogroups
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