New study sheds light on the origin of the European Jewish population
Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - 19:31
in Biology & Nature
Despite being one of the most genetically analysed groups, the origin of European Jews has remained obscure. However, a new study published online today in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution by Dr Eran Elhaik, a geneticist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, argues that the European Jewish genome is a mosaic of Caucasus, European, and Semitic ancestries, setting to rest previous contradictory reports of Jewish ancestry. Elhaik's findings strongly support the Khazarian Hypothesis, as opposed to the Rhineland Hypothesis, of European Jewish origins. This could have a major impact on the ways in which scientists study genetic disorders within the population.