Genome-Wide Diversity in the Levant Reveals Recent Structuring by Culture

[Kamal900]

Published: February 28, 2013

"A 2013 study of Haber and et al. found that "The predominantly Muslim populations of Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians cluster on branches with other Muslim populations as distant as Morocco and Yemen." The authors explained that "religious affiliation had a strong impact on the genomes of the Levantines. In particular, conversion of the region's populations to Islam appears to have introduced major rearrangements in populations' relations through admixture with culturally similar but geographically remote populations leading to genetic similarities between remarkably distant populations." The authors also reconstructed the genetic structure of pre-Islamic Levant and found that "it was more genetically similar to Europeans than to Middle Easterners."

The Levant is a region in the Near East with an impressive record of continuous human existence and major cultural developments since the Paleolithic period. Genetic and archeological studies present solid evidence placing the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula as the first stepping-stone outside Africa. There is, however, little understanding of demographic changes in the Middle East, particularly the Levant, after the first Out-of-Africa expansion and how the Levantine peoples relate genetically to each other and to their neighbors. In this study we analyze more than 500,000 genome-wide SNPs in 1,341 new samples from the Levant and compare them to samples from 48 populations worldwide. Our results show recent genetic stratifications in the Levant are driven by the religious affiliations of the populations within the region.

In particular, conversion of the region's populations to Islam appears to have introduced major rearrangements in populations' relations through admixture with culturally similar but geographically remote populations, leading to genetic similarities between remarkably distant populations like Jordanians, Moroccans, and Yemenis. Conversely, other populations, like Christians and Druze, became genetically isolated in the new cultural environment. We reconstructed the genetic structure of the Levantines and found that a pre-Islamic expansion Levant was more genetically similar to Europeans than to Middle Easterners.

Only 25 randomly selected samples from each Lebanese group were used in order to avoid population size biases (Figure S3). The plots reveal a Levantine structure not reported previously: Lebanese Christians and all Druze cluster together, and Lebanese Muslims are extended towards Syrians, Palestinians, and Jordanians, which are close to Saudis and Bedouins. Ashkenazi Jews are drawn towards the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, reflecting historical admixture events with Europeans, while Sephardi Jews cluster tightly with the Levantine groups. These results are consistent with previous studies reporting higher European genome-wide admixture in Ashkenazi Jews compared with other Jews [11] and higher Y-chromosomal gene flow to Lebanese Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula compared with other Lebanese [5].

The population tree (Figure 3A) splits Levantine populations in two branches: one leading to Europeans and Central Asians that includes Lebanese, Armenians, Cypriots, Druze and Jews, as well as Turks, Iranians and Caucasian populations; and a second branch composed of Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, as well as North Africans, Ethiopians, Saudis, and Bedouins.

The tree shows a correlation between religion and the population structures in the Levant: all Jews (Sephardi and Ashkenazi) cluster in one branch; Druze from Mount Lebanon and Druze from Mount Carmel are depicted on a private branch; and Lebanese Christians form a private branch with the Christian populations of Armenia and Cyprus placing the Lebanese Muslims as an outer group. The predominantly Muslim populations of Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians cluster on branches with other Muslim populations as distant as Morocco and Yemen. It should be noted here that the results depend significantly on populations included in the analysis as well as recent admixture events, and so should be treated as an approximate guide to similarity, rather than a full population history.


ChromoPainter's coancestry matrix (Figure 3B, Figure S4) shows the haplotype chunks donated from the world populations to the Levantines and shows that Jordanians, Palestinians, and Syrians receive more chunks from sub-Saharan Africans and from Middle Easterners compared with other Levantines.

More --> http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1003316

[StonyArabia]

Bedouin like population probably took local wives from North Africa and Levant, and hence the similarity between all of these groups. We know that Palestinians especially have the highest amount of Arabian/Bedouin Y-DNA lineages, but their mtDNA is very Samaritian like, this shows that during the conquest that Bedouin males took local females as wives when they expanded in the 7th century. Well the affinity to North Africa seems due to geographic proximity, and possibly of similar outcome Bedouin like males taking North African females, this happened more recently in the 10th century. As for Yemenites, that's where many Bedouin tribes claim lineage form. The test seems to make sense from this account.

[Yuffayur]

Bedouin like population probably took local wives from North Africa and Levant, and hence the similarity between all of these groups. We know that Palestinians especially have the highest amount of Arabian/Bedouin Y-DNA lineages, but their mtDNA is very Samaritian like, this shows that during the conquest that Bedouin males took local females as wives when they expanded in the 7th century. Well the affinity to North Africa seems due to geographic proximity, and possibly of similar outcome Bedouin like males taking North African females, this happened more recently in the 10th century. As for Yemenites, that's where many Bedouin tribes claim lineage form. The test seems to make sense from this account.

Superficial vision, you forgot a lot of historic immigrations, from Egypt to Levant and vice-versa, from Arabia to Egypt and vice-versa, and of course Arabia and Levant, I believe this is the true reason of this strong overlap, Bedouins are a wide and heterogeanous people, Egyptian ones are different than Saudi one or Iraqi one, also don't forget that these clusters are fake and also outdated. I personally prefer to interpretate the people genetics with their Y-DNA and mt-DNA. the autosomes change everyday.

[Yuffayur]

Also Levant received a lot of NorthAfricans the recent one would be the Emir Abdelkader and his people in Syria, if I'm not wrong there was a Maghrebian neighbourhood in Jerusalem, it was constructed in Saladins era, in the other hands, a lot of Levantines moved to NorthAfrican during the islamic era.

[Kamal900]

Also Levant received a lot of NorthAfricans the recent one would be the Emir Abdelkader and his people in Syria, if I'm not wrong there was a Maghrebian neighbourhood in Jerusalem, it was constructed in Saladins era, in the other hands, a lot of Levantines moved to NorthAfrican during the islamic era.

Your not wrong actually. There was a Moroccan migration to Palestine, acre in the 16th and 17th centuries, and i wouldn't be surprised if myself got substantial North-west African lineages or admixture in my genealogy. Egypt and Levant had strong cultural relationship to each since the neolithic period, and there were migration from and to Egypt during that period:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKB8LcnSHBY&spfreload=10

You had seen my grand father's cousin and his family right? His children are half moroccan half palestinians and his grand children are 3/4 moroccans, and the racial phenotypes in them arent really different to levantines and north-west africans. Of course, NA's and Levantines have their own looks, but it isnt all that different. Is like when you comparing Iberians and Italians. They may have their own unique look but they are the most similar to each other in comparison to other Europeans.

[Yuffayur]

Your not wrong actually. There was a Moroccan migration to Palestine, acre in the 16th and 17th centuries, and i wouldn't be surprised if myself got substantial North-west African lineages or admixture in my genealogy. Egypt and Levant had strong cultural relationship to each since the neolithic period, and there were migration from and to Egypt during that period:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKB8LcnSHBY&spfreload=10

You had seen my grand father's cousin and his family right? His children are half moroccan half palestinians and his grand children are 3/4 moroccans, and the racial phenotypes in them arent really different to levantines and north-west africans. Of course, NA's and Levantines have their own looks, but it isnt all that different. Is like when you comparing Iberians and Italians. They may have their own unique look but they are the most similar to each other in comparison to other Europeans.

Agree with you, when I said Levantine to NorthAfrican, I was talking specifically about the recent ones, even if we know that immigrations are old as humanity, anyway it's an interesting video, I'm watching.

[Kamal900]

bump

[StonyArabia]

Superficial vision, you forgot a lot of historic immigrations, from Egypt to Levant and vice-versa, from Arabia to Egypt and vice-versa, and of course Arabia and Levant, I believe this is the true reason of this strong overlap, Bedouins are a wide and heterogeanous people, Egyptian ones are different than Saudi one or Iraqi one, also don't forget that these clusters are fake and also outdated. I personally prefer to interpretate the people genetics with their Y-DNA and mt-DNA. the autosomes change everyday.

I would kinda disagree with that statement, based on recent genetic test Iraqi Bedouins are identical to the Saudi Bedouins, this even true of Christian Bedouins, and Egyptian Bedouins. The Negev Bedouins for example cluster with Yemenite Jews genetically who in turn cluster with Saudi Bedouins. However there is some differences but this due to regional variation. Yet all Bedouins form a unique cluster own to themselves.

[Mars06]

This is very interesting. It's just as I suspected.

[Kamal900]

This is very interesting. It's just as I suspected.

What did you expected from the study in your opinion?

[randomguy1235]

There have been numerous threads about this one study already. If I'm not mistaken you've made one yourself? The authors of the study clearly have a bias in regards to their presentation of the data. Gilgamesh, it seems that you're espousing a pan-MENA/Arab sentiments without taking into account much in the way of facts


Anyways, here's a very informational post that somebody on Forum Biodiversity made about this study:



Those Bedouin as I've mentioned in the past to other members are not real Peninsula Arabian Bedouin... They're pretty much just Levantines who've seemingly adopted the Bedouin culture and identity (may be the descendants of Levantines who were already pastoral nomads to begin with and then became Arabized). They're often labelled BedouinA and they always cluster with "Arab" Levantines (Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Palestinians) from Polako's PCA plots to Lazaridis' plots to even a plot from clusters galore:


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QJs5tV0H3t4/VIwY7BlNxyI/AAAAAAAAByM/aFBDW_Sgvj8/s1600/2dkweaw.jpg



Clusters galore



http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rv577eLo2OA/TZG8nOGpFJI/AAAAAAAADWs/cXL-LVZqqWw/s1600/MDS.png

^ Notice the two distinct Bedouin groups. One with Levantines and one with actual Peninsula Arabians. Heck, one is more distinctly Peninsula Arabian than many of the Saudi samples.

[-]

Real Peninsula Arabians (real Bedouin & Saudis etc.) simply would not overlap with Levantines and are clearly distinct from them/ they seem to for now be much more maxed out in their Near Eastern admixture, more or less lack ANE & lack WHG.

[randomguy1235]

Bedouin like population probably took local wives from North Africa and Levant, and hence the similarity between all of these groups. We know that Palestinians especially have the highest amount of Arabian/Bedouin Y-DNA lineages, but their mtDNA is very Samaritian like, this shows that during the conquest that Bedouin males took local females as wives when they expanded in the 7th century. Well the affinity to North Africa seems due to geographic proximity, and possibly of similar outcome Bedouin like males taking North African females, this happened more recently in the 10th century. As for Yemenites, that's where many Bedouin tribes claim lineage form. The test seems to make sense from this account.

No, this is not true considering the logistical nature you're implying. How would a few Bedouin males drastically change the genetic lineage of an entire population? Why would Levantine females exclusively mix with Bedouin males? It makes much more sense that these Bedouins in the north are genetically different from their southern brethren. Read my post above

[Kamal900]

There have been numerous threads about this one study already. If I'm not mistaken you've made one yourself? The authors of the study clearly have a bias in regards to their presentation of the data. Anyways, here's a very informational post that somebody on Forum Biodiversity made about this study:

Yeah, and northern arabians in the PCA charts i have shown you are distinct from southern Arabians but of course its due to admixture between Levantines and northern bedouins, and you can see that we cluster between Druze and northern Bedouins which this study also claim that the Asheknazi Jews plot between Levantines and Europeans due to European admixture. Neither the Palestinians nor the Jews represent pure genetic levantnes so yeah.

[StonyArabia]

There have been numerous threads about this one study already. If I'm not mistaken you've made one yourself? The authors of the study clearly have a bias in regards to their presentation of the data. Anyways, here's a very informational post that somebody on Forum Biodiversity made about this study:

Awale is wrong. I share with a Christian Bedouin from Jordan and he clusters with Saudis and Yemenite Jews. I will ask if I can share his results. He is also wrong all Bedouins it does not matter if they are Egyptian, Saudi, or Iraqi form a cluster of their own, and often are very close to Yemenite Jews. The reason some Bedouins are clustering with Levantine population, is because the latter are mixed with Arabian populations especially the Ghassanids and to lesser extent the Nabateans and other Arabian tribes, and of course the ancient Midianite and Kedarites. Jordanians are of Bedouin stock and often don't regard themselves as Shami, the same is true of southeast Syrians who rarely identify as Syrians btw, and many Lebanese are also of Bedouin origins, this especially true of the Bekka Valley Shia Arabs, who look typically Bedouin/Arabian.

[randomguy1235]

Yeah, and northern arabians in the PCA charts i have shown you are distinct from southern Arabians but of course its due to admixture between Levantines and northern bedouins, and you can see that we cluster between Druze and northern Bedouins which this study also claim that the Asheknazi Jews plot between Levantines and Europeans due to European admixture. Neither the Palestinians nor the Jews represent pure genetic levantnes so yeah.

No, you implied that we're a mixed population by assuming that northern Bedouins are genetically representative of ethnic Arabians, when in fact they're mixed with Levantines to begin with.

[Kamal900]

No, you implied that we're a mixed population by assuming that northern Bedouins are genetically representative of ethnic Arabians, when in fact they're mixed with Levantines to begin with.

We are mixed, and i have showed you many PCA charts from other studies show the exact same thing in the visitor message. If we are pure then we would have clustered with the Druze 100 percent which we dont. We are not pure and neither the jews for that matter.

[randomguy1235]

We are mixed, and i have showed you many PCA charts from other studies show the exact same thing in the visitor message. If we are pure then we would have clustered with the Druze 100 percent which we dont. We are not pure and neither the jews for that matter.

It largely depends on where they obtained their samples of Palestinians from, considering that the West Bank samples I've shown you are extremely similar to Samaritans and Druze samples.

[StonyArabia]

No, this is not true considering the logistical nature you're implying. How would a few Bedouin males drastically change the genetic lineage of an entire population? Why would Levantine females exclusively mix with Bedouin males? It makes much more sense that these Bedouins in the north are genetically different from their southern brethren. Read my post above

There not, if we take Christian Bedouins to be the best proxy for North Arabians, their not that much different from southern Arabian Bedouins. They cluster with Yemenite Jews. This is true of Negev Bedouins as well. Simply they be the conquerors would. Yes they would, the Spanish did it in the Canary Islands and the Americas. Males often took local females. The reason why North Bedouins are close to Levantines, is because Levantines are mixed with Bedouins. Iraqi Bedouins are identical to Saudi Bedouins, regardless if they are Christian ,Sunni, or Shia. I bet the Shia Arabs in the Bekka Valley in Lebanon would be the same, they look like us, small stature, dark skin, and black hair, they were not assimilated into the mainstream Shia population, but religiously only.

[Kamal900]

There have been numerous threads about this one study already. If I'm not mistaken you've made one yourself? The authors of the study clearly have a bias in regards to their presentation of the data. Gilgamesh, it seems that you're espousing a pan-MENA/Arab sentiments without taking into account much in the way of facts

Baseless accusation just because you want to be seen as 100 pure levantine or something. I never claimed that we are Egyptian, NA or whatever. All i did was that we are a mixed population much like the Ashkenazi jews are admixed with europeans. You want to portray all palestinians as pure levantines or something, and yet, why do these people in Hebron dont look like the genetic isolates like the Druze?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_nlmH-Q8_U

I just post genetic studies on the matter about the levant, and all you have been saying that we are pure levantines and etc. No, and it would seem that the Jordanians and Syrians are also admixed as well not just us.

[randomguy1235]

There not, if we take Christian Bedouins to be the best proxy for North Arabians, their not that much different from southern Arabian Bedouins. They cluster with Yemenite Jews. This is true of Negev Bedouins as well. Simply they be the conquerors would. Yes they would, the Spanish did it in the Canary Islands and the Americas. Males often took local females. The reason why North Bedouins are close to Levantines, is because Levantines are mixed with Bedouins. Iraqi Bedouins are identical to Saudi Bedouins, regardless if they are Christian ,Sunni, or Shia. I bet the Shia Arabs in the Bekka Valley in Lebanon would be the same, they look like us, small stature, dark skin, and black hair, they were not assimilated into the mainstream Shia population, but religiously only.

Considering that Levantines far out number any Bedouin population, that's some fallacious reasoning. Rather, it is northern Bedouins who are mixed with Levantines and, thus, cluster closer to Lev populations. After all, Arabians are descendants of Southern Levantines mixed with various elements.

[randomguy1235]

Baseless accusation just because you want to be seen as 100 pure levantine or something. I never claimed that we are Egyptian, NA or whatever. All i did was that we are a mixed population much like the Ashkenazi jews are admixed with europeans. You want to portray all palestinians as pure levantines or something, and yet, why do these people in Hebron dont look like the genetic isolates like the Druze?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_nlmH-Q8_U

I just post genetic studies on the matter about the levant, and all you have been saying that we are pure levantines and etc. No, and it would seem that the Jordanians and Syrians are also admixed as well not just us.

Have you even seen any Druze in person? Because I have and they're very much similar in appearance to us. The people in the video look perfectly Levantine, I'm not sure where you're going with this.

[StonyArabia]

Considering that Levantines far out number any Bedouin population, that's some fallacious reasoning. Rather, it is northern Bedouins who are mixed with Levantines and, thus, cluster closer to Lev populations. After all, Arabians are descendants of Southern Levantines mixed with various elements.

Well remember the Ghassanids, Nabateans, Kedarites, Midianites all Arabian or Bedouin tribes that moved into the Levant and intermingled, so it went both ways. However the Bedouin tribes conquered the region in the 7th century and giving more of a renewed a gene flow especially paternally, autosomally North Bedouins and Palis are different . Palis autosmally are closer to Samaritians, well North Bedouins are closer to Arabians and especially Yemenite Jews who are not much different from Southern Bedouins.

[randomguy1235]

Well remember the Ghassanids, Nabateans, Kedarites, Midianites all Arabian or Bedouin tribes that moved into the Levant and intermingled, so it went both ways. However the Bedouin tribes conquered the region in the 7th century and giving more of a renewed a gene flow especially paternally, autosomally North Bedouins and Palis are different . Palis autosmally are closer to Samaritians, well North Bedouins are closer to Arabians and especially Yemenite Jews who are not much different from Southern Bedouins.
Never use history as genetic here say dude. That'd be the equivalent of me claiming that Palestinians have substantial Greek admixture because many Philistines historically settled in Palestine. You know that my reasoning is much more logical than your flawed explanation.

[Kamal900]

Have you even seen any Druze in person? Because I have and they're very much similar in appearance to us. The people in the video look perfectly Levantine, I'm not sure where you're going with this.

Yes i did, and they look more lighter than us. But anyway, what im saying is that neither people represent how the anicent levantines really look like and etc. As you said, there are palestinians who are more purer than others that i can agree with you on this, and the people of Nabulus for example are different from the ones in Gaza.

[StonyArabia]

Never use history as genetic here say dude. That'd be the equivalent of me claiming that Palestinians have substantial Greek admixture because many Philistines historically settled in Palestine. You know that my reasoning is much more logical than your flawed explanation.

No but the Ghassanid blood still flow in many Christian Levantines, this means they had a significant impact on the Levant population and many Christian Levantine show significant ancestry from this. This does not account of quite new flow of Arabian migrants in the Levant. Not to mention the Nabateans also. It's Levantines who became near us not us to them. If I have flawed logic, it's you who support the more flawed idea of Greater Syria, which will only bring oppression to my people.

[LightHouse89]

Which european groups do they cluster with? Greeks? [Christian Lebanese people].

[resistance 2]

Palestinians and Druzes in the HGDP database come from Israel, so no West Bankers there.

Palestinians and Beduins are pretty much the same when it comes to ancestral components. Actually Palestinians are a little bit more African admixted, but the difference is minimal.

Components like South West Asian, West Asian,... are mostly fake and composite of ancestral components. Indeed those PCA maps are mostly modelled on such fake components and so wrong.

[StonyArabia]

Which european groups do they cluster with? Greeks? [Christian Lebanese people].

Cypriots, Fairy who is Pali Christian partially, shows a good amount of Arabian and Cypriot genetics.

[Jerban]

Interesting study, I already seen it, it shows that Levantines are more endogamous.