Jews, Arabs are brothers, genetic study shows

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - They may be enemies but Jews and Arabs really are brothers, a genetic analysis published on Monday shows.

The comparison of groups of Semites also shows that Jews have successfully resisted having their gene pool diluted, despite having lived among non-Jews for thousands of years in what is commonly known as the Diaspora -- the time since 556 B.C. when Jews migrated out of Palestine.

Michael Hammer at the University of Arizona in Tucson and colleagues studied and compared the genes of more than 1,300 males from 29 different populations.

These included seven different Jewish groups -- the Ashkenazi (European), Roman, North African, Kurdish, Iraqi and Iranian, Yemenite and Ethiopian Jews. They compared their genes to samples from Arabs such as Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Israeli Druze and Saudis, and then compared the Semitic group to groups such as Russians, Germans, British, Austrians, Egyptians, Gambians, Ethiopians, Turks and others.

The researchers looked at the Y chromosome, which only males have and which is passed down with little change from father to son. These small changes can be tracked and provide a kind of molecular roadmap to the genetic past.

They found that grouping Jews and Arabs together -- both are Semites -- is based on genetic and well as historical and linguistic reality.

"Jews and Arabs are all really children of Abraham," Dr. Harry Ostrer, director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University School of Medicine, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

"And all have preserved their Middle Eastern genetic roots over 4,000 years."

They also found that Jews had remained remarkably similar on the genetic level over the millennia.

"Despite their long-term residence in different countries and isolation from one another, most Jewish populations were not significantly different from one another at the genetic level," Hammer's group wrote in their report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Very few non-Jewish European genes have gotten into the Ashkenazi and Roman Jewish populations, they said.

"The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, and suggests that most Jewish communities have remained relatively isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities during and after the Diaspora," they wrote.

Translate Google

WASHINGTON, 8 Mei (Reuters) - Mereka mungkin musuh tapi orang Yahudi dan Arab benar-benar saudara, analisis genetik yang dipublikasikan Senin menunjukkan.

Perbandingan kelompok Semit juga menunjukkan bahwa orang-orang Yahudi telah berhasil menolak memiliki gen mereka diencerkan, meski telah hidup di antara non-Yahudi selama ribuan tahun dalam apa yang dikenal sebagai Diaspora - waktu sejak 556 SM ketika orang-orang Yahudi bermigrasi keluar dari Palestina.

Michael Hammer di University of Arizona di Tucson dan rekannya mempelajari dan membandingkan gen dari lebih dari 1.300 laki-laki dari 29 populasi berbeda.

Ini termasuk tujuh kelompok Yahudi berbeda - Ashkenazi (Eropa), Roman, Afrika Utara, Kurdi, Irak dan Iran, Yaman dan Yahudi Ethiopia. Mereka membandingkan gen mereka dengan sampel dari Arab seperti Palestina, Lebanon, Suriah, Druze Israel dan Saudi, dan kemudian dibandingkan kelompok Semit untuk kelompok-kelompok seperti Rusia, Jerman, Inggris, Austria, Mesir, Gambia, Ethiopia, Turki dan lain-lain.

Para peneliti melihat kromosom Y, yang hanya laki-laki memiliki dan yang diturunkan dengan sedikit perubahan dari ayah ke anak. Perubahan kecil dapat dilacak dan memberikan semacam roadmap molekuler untuk masa lalu genetik.

Mereka menemukan bahwa pengelompokan orang-orang Yahudi dan Arab bersama-sama - keduanya Semit - didasarkan pada genetik dan juga realitas sejarah dan linguistik.

"Orang-orang Yahudi dan Arab adalah semua benar-benar anak-anak Abraham," Dr. Harry Ostrer, direktur Program Genetika Manusia di New York University School of Medicine, yang bekerja pada studi ini, mengatakan dalam sebuah pernyataan.

"Dan semua telah diawetkan akar genetik Timur Tengah mereka lebih dari 4.000 tahun."

Mereka juga menemukan bahwa orang-orang Yahudi itu tetap sangat mirip pada tingkat genetik selama ribuan tahun.

"Meskipun tinggal jangka panjang mereka di berbagai negara dan isolasi dari satu sama lain, kebanyakan populasi Yahudi tidak secara signifikan berbeda satu sama lain pada tingkat genetik," kelompok Hammer menulis dalam laporannya yang dipublikasikan di Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Sangat sedikit gen Eropa non-Yahudi telah masuk ke dalam Ashkenazi dan populasi Yahudi Romawi, kata mereka.

"Hasil penelitian ini mendukung hipotesis bahwa kolam gen paternal dari komunitas Yahudi dari Eropa, Afrika Utara dan Timur Tengah turun dari populasi leluhur Timur Tengah umum, dan menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar masyarakat Yahudi tetap relatif terisolasi dari tetangga komunitas non-Yahudi selama dan setelah Diaspora, "tulis mereka