In summary, we have circumscribed the geography of marker M582 within the broad distribution zone of R1a-M198* lineages. We have shown it to be a minor haplogroup that is primarily shared among Iranian Kerman, Iranian Azeri, Kurds, Ashkenazi Jews and non-Ashkenazi Jews, and that it is virtually absent in the Caucasus region, Europe, South Asia, and southern Siberia. Thus, in contrast to previous suggestions regarding the origin of this Ashkenazi Levite founding lineage, we conclude that haplogroup R1a-M582 was likely carried into Europe by Jewish migrants and that it expanded among Ashkenazi Levites during their subsequent Diaspora period in a region that is incidentally dominated by other R1a parahaplogroups that coalesce with R1a-M582 prior to the establishment of the Jewish people. The existence of the R1a-M582 lineage within non-Ashkenazi Levites from different Jewish communities suggests it to either be a pre-Diaspora Hebrew Levite lineage or that continuous gene flow existed between Jewish communities, presumably, from Ashkenazi to non-Ashkenazi Jews.
Based on distinct STR patterns, it has been suggested that some of the Jewish R1b chromosomes may have a West European origin and that some might be of Near Eastern origin34. Our sequence data are compatible with this suggestion as the Kurdish, Moroccan and Turkish Jewish R1b lineages for which whole Y-chromosome data was determined to coincide with a different branch than the one which is common in Europe (Fig. 1a). Intriguingly, we also noticed that like the R1a subclade, the particular subclade within R1b is also shared by Jews and a Y-chromosome, sampled in Aramaic speaking Assyrian descendants. In contrast, one Ashkenazi Jewish and one Arab Christian R1b lineages seem to be nested with the European R1b-L52 haplogroup. Estimating the proportion of haplogroup R1b chromosomes among Jews and in particular among Ashkenazi Jews of Levantine origin remains the scope of further studies.
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2013/13...comms3928.html