Haplogroup J1 is most frequent in Northeast Caucasian populations of Dagestan (Avars 67%, Lezgins 58% (Yunusbaev et al.)) and Arabs of the southern Levant, i.e. Palestinian Arabs (38.4%) (Semino et al.) and Arab Bedouins (62% and 82% in Negev desert Bedouins). It is also very common among other Arabic-speaking populations, such as those of Algeria (35%), Syria (30%), Iraq (33%), the Sinai Peninsula, and the Arabian Peninsula. The frequency of Haplogroup J1 collapses suddenly at the borders of Arabic countries with mainly non-Arabic countries, such as Turkey and Iran, yet it is found at low frequency among the populations of those countries, as well as in Cyprus, Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula. It entered Ethiopia in the Neolithic with the Neolithic Revolution and spread of agriculture, where it is found mainly among Semitic speakers (e.g. Amhara 33.3%). It spread later to North Africa in historic times (as identified by the motif YCAIIa22-YCAIIb22; Algerians 35.0%, Tunisians 30.1%), where it became something like a marker of the Arab expansion in the early medieval period (Semino et al. 2004). Researchers believe that marker DYS388=17 (Y DNA tests for STR - Short Tandem Repeater) is linked with the later expansion of Arabian tribes in the southern Levant and northern Africa (Di Giacomo et al. 2004).
Haplogroup J1 is found almost exclusively among modern populations of the Caucasus, Southwest Asia, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa, essentially delineating the region popularly known as the Middle East and associated with speakers of Semitic languages and Caucasian languages. The distribution of J1 outside of the Middle East may be associated with Arabs and Phoenicians who traded and conquered in Sicily, southern Italy, Spain, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Pakistan, or with Jews, who have historical origins in the Middle East and speak (or historically spoke) a Semitic language, though typically Haplogroup J2 is more than twice as common among Jews. In Jewish populations overall, J1 constitutes 19.0% of the Ashkenazim results and 11.9% of the Sephardic results (Semino et al. 2004)(Behar et al. 2004). Haplogroup J1 with marker DYS388=13 is a distinctive type found in eastern Anatolia (Cinnioglu et al. 2004).
Y-chromosomal Aaron
A subset of Haplogroup J1 and J2 is found in a high proportion (about 65%) of Jewish males with the surname Cohen or its variants, less frequently among other Jews (25%) and other Middle-Eastern people (22% or less)[1]. This J1 variant was called the Cohen modal haplotype. This discovery confirms the Biblical and priestly claim of a common patrilineal descent, namely from Aaron, hence the nickname Y-chromosomal Aaron.
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