| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Special Articles |
Department of Pediatrics (C.O., E.G-N., C.M.C., H.N., K.S., N.M., M.N., M.K., F.A., H.O.), New York School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016; Universita di Roma "La Sapienza" (C.D.), Rome, Italy; Ospedale Israelitico (E.D.), Rome, Italy; Ospedale Bambino Gesú (M.R.C.), Rome, Italy; Sourasky Medical Center (H.P.), Tel Aviv, Israel; Institute of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Department of Hematology (H.P., U.S.), Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel; Department of Human Genetics (L.L., K.N.), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York; and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders (I.A., D.K.), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Address correspondence and requests for reprints to: Harry Ostrer, M.D., Human Genetics Program, Department of Pediatrics, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, MSB 136, New York, New York 10016. E-mail: harry.ostrer{at}med.nyu.edu
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
One way of tracking the relatedness of Roman Jews to other Jewish groups is to look for the presence of signature Mendelian conditions, each with a characteristic common allele. Many signature Mendelian genetic conditions have been described among Ashkenazi, North African, and Middle Eastern Jews (6, 7). The alleles for each of these conditions may have been present in the founders of the population, they may arise independently after the population was established, or they may have been exchanged through admixture with neighboring populations. Through genetic drift or selection the frequency of some of these alleles has become quite high. When found in more than one population, the common origin of disease alleles can be demonstrated by their association with the same alleles of tightly linked microsatellite markers.
Unlike the situation in other endogamous Jewish groups, no signature Mendelian genetic conditions have been described in the Roman Jewish community. To examine the relatedness of Roman Jews to the potentially progenitor Ashkenazi and Middle Eastern Jews and to the potentially descendant Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardic Jews of the Levant, we tested 107 members of the Roman Jewish community for alleles known to be prevalent among each of those groups.
| Subjects and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Personal and family histories and blood samples were obtained from 107 healthy Roman Jewish volunteers at the Ospedale Israelitico in Rome. All subjects were self-identified as Roman Jewish, and some were members of the same family. Virtually all were known to the study organizers, who recognized them as members of this community. All of the subjects were interviewed by Roman Jewish medical students from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" Medical School who were trained to administer a structured medical questionnaire. Family histories were taken to assess the genetic relatedness of the subjects and the presence of genetic conditions known to be prevalent among other Jewish populations.
To confirm allele frequencies for Tay-Sachs, Canavan and Gaucher diseases, cystic fibrosis, Bloom syndrome, and Fanconi anemia previously reported in our laboratory, or elsewhere, mutation analysis was performed on a group of 1500 Ashkenazi Jews who presented to the Human Genetics Program from January 1998 to June 1999 for testing for one or more of these conditions. The characteristics of this population have been described (8).
Genetic analysis
DNA was extracted from ethylenediaminetetraacetate-treated blood
samples using an FDA-approved commercial kit (Gentra Systems,
Minneapolis, MN). Analysis of mutations common among Ashkenazim for
Bloom syndrome, breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility (BRCA1 and 2),
Canavan disease, cystic fibrosis, factor V Leiden, factor XI
deficiency, Fanconi anemia complementation group C, Gaucher disease,
nonsyndromic neurosensory hearing loss (connexin 26), and Tay-Sachs
disease (Tables 1
and 2
) were performed by multiplex PCR and
allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization to specific mutant or
corresponding wild-type probes (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19). Comparison of allele
frequencies was performed by
2 analysis.
|
|
Mutation origin studies were performed by analysis of fluorochrome-labeled, polymorphic microsatellite markers on an ABI 310 DNA analyzer. These markers included: for glucocerebrosidase, D1S2777, D1S2140, D1S1595, and D1S2721; for CFTR, IVS8CA, IVS17BTA, and IVS17BCA; and for connexin 26, D13S141, D13S175, and D13S250 (18, 23, 24). Allele sizes were determined by comparison with samples from Ashkenazi Jewish individuals previously shown to be heterozygotes or homozygotes for these mutations. For glucocerebrosidase and connexin 26, samples were available from individuals with microsatellite alleles of known sizes. To calibrate the allele sizes for CFTR, PCR products from individuals shown to be homozygous for a particular marker were sequenced using fluorochrome-labeled dye terminators (PE Biosystems, Foster City, CA) and the number of repeats was counted.
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Of the 107 members of the study population, 55 were men and 52 were women. The ages ranged from 17 to 80 yr. Based on the relationships described, 176 haploid sets of chromosomes were represented. Among 106 individuals who provided information about ethnic origin, 81 indicated that their grandparents had been born in Rome. Of the remainder, 20 indicated that at least one grandparent had been born in Rome, 4 indicated that at least one grandparent had been born elsewhere in Italy, and 1 was of central and eastern European origin.
Allele sharing with other Jewish populations
Among 107 people tested, three unrelated individuals carried the
factor XI type III mutation, two unrelated individuals were positive
for the CFTR 3849 + 10kb C->T mutation, one carried the
glucocerebrosidase N370S disease mutation, one each carried the
connexin 26 30delG and 167 delT mutations and 10 carried the factor V
Leiden mutation. Of these, all reported to be of pure Roman Jewish
origin, except for one factor XI type III carrier who was of mixed
Roman and Italian Jewish origin and one factor V Leiden carrier who was
of mixed Roman and Sephardic Jewish origin. In addition, 13 individuals
had known mutations in the MEFV gene: five E148Q heterozygotes and one
homozygote (among 95 tested), two P369S heterozygotes (among 103
tested), three M694V heterozygotes (among 107 tested), and two V726A
heterozygotes (among 107 tested) (Table 1
). Of these individuals, eight
were of pure Roman Jewish ancestry. No individual was found to carry
other disease-causing mutations that have been observed in Ashkenazi
Jews, including BLM 6 bp-del/7 bp-ins, BRCA1 185delAG and 5382insC,
BRCA2 6174delT, N-aspartyl-acylase E285A and Y231X, CFTR deltaF508,
W1282X, G542X and N1303K, FAC IVS4DS, A->T, +4, factor XI E117X (type
II), glucocerebrosidase R496H, 84GG, L444P, and IVS2DS, G->A, +1, and
hexosaminidase A 4-bp ins, ex11, IVS12DS, G->C, +1, and G269S (Table 2
). In addition, no individual was found to have the G6PD Med1 mutation
nor to have a low mean corpuscular volume, suggestive of a
carrier state for
- or ß-thalassemia.
Origin of mutations
To determine whether the glucocerebrosidase N370S, the CFTR 3849 +
10 kb C->T, and the connexin 26 167 delT mutations had a common origin
between Ashkenazi and Roman Jews, closely linked and intragenic
polymorphic microsatellite repeat markers were typed and compared (Fig. 1
). In every case the inferred haplotypes
were identical between the Roman and Ashkenazi Jewish carriers,
suggesting a common origin.
|
The allele frequencies for BLM, N-aspartyl-acylase, CFTR, glucocerebrosidase, and hexosaminidase A were determined for a new cohort of Ashkenazi Jews and were compared with those previously reported from our program (8, 12). In every case, no significant difference was found. In addition, allele frequencies were determined for FAC IVS4DS A-T +4, and factor V Leiden in this cohort and compared with those previously reported by others (15, 16, 25). Likewise, no significant differences were found, suggesting that the cohorts of Ashkenazi Jews that we have studied are representative.
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Historically, Jews have been present in Rome for over 2000 yr (1). The first settlers date from Hasmonean times in the 2nd century B.C.E. Following the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., a large population of Jews was forcibly resettled in Rome. Over the course of the ensuing 2 millennia, this population resisted the secularizing influences of the Roman Empire and subsequently Catholic Italy to retain its identity (2). Sometimes retention of identity was imposed by outside events. Among these events was a Catholic Church ordinance in 1215 requiring Jews to wear a distinctive device on their clothes and the creation of Roman Jewish ghetto in 1558. From its creation, until the time of its destruction in 1870, Jews were required to live within the ghetto.
Members of the early Jewish population of Rome migrated to other Italian cities and north of the Alps into France and Germany to create populations that may have become the forebears of contemporary Ashkenazi Jews. In turn, admixture may have occurred over the past 800 yr between the Roman Jewish population and other Jewish groups (3, 4). Jews from France and Germany settled in Italy after their expulsion in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Following the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, some of the Jews from the Spanish-ruled states of Sicily and southern Italy were taken into Rome, whereas others continued their migration east to the Balkans, Turkey, and the Middle East (27). Over time the Sephardic and Ashkenazi inhabitants of Rome were assimilated into the Roman Jewish community. Internal migration occurred among the Jewish populations of the other Italian states. Since the late 19th century, the combination of internal migration, assimilation, and the Holocaust of the Second World War has led to the marked diminution of all Jewish population centers in Italy, with the exceptions of those in Rome and Milan. Of these, the contemporary Milanese Jewish population has been derived principally from Ashkenazi and Egyptian Jewish immigrants arriving after the Second World War (28).
Based on the known historical events, the ancient Roman Jewish
community may have been progenitor to Ashkenazim. Conversely, the
contemporary Roman Jewish population may have had Ashkenazi forebears.
The observations of this study support both possibilities (Table 3
). Mutations in connexin 26,
MEFV, and glucocerebrosidase previously shown to have a
Mediterranean origin are found in both the Roman and Ashkenazi Jewish
populations (18, 20, 29). The ages of the glucocerebrosidase and the
MEFV mutations have both been estimated to be several thousand years
(29, 30). The factor XI type 3 mutation, previously described only
among Ashkenazi Jews and shown to have been of fairly recent origin,
has now been found among Roman Jews (21, 31). Although the CFTR 3849 +
10kb C->T mutation occurs at a known hotspot of mutation, and
independent mutations have been previously described among Czechs and
Germans, it occurs on the same genetic background among Ashkenazi and
Roman Jews, indicating a common origin (32). Indeed, analysis of Y
chromosomal haplotypes supports the notion of a close degree of
relatedness among the Roman and Ashkenazi Jewish populations (Oddoux,
C., Ostrer, H., Hammer, M., unpublished observations). Further
refinement about the ages of these mutations in the Roman and Ashkenazi
Jewish populations (which could only be undertaken with the discovery
of many carriers or homozygous affected individuals in the Roman Jewish
population) would serve only to resolve that specific question, without
providing further insight about which population was progenitor.
|
In view of the fact that the historical record suggests that Ashkenazi Jewish admixture into the Roman Jewish population occurred from the Middle Ages onward, it is surprising that the highly prevalent nonclassical CAH mutation is not found in the Roman Jewish population (36). The allele frequency of this mutation has been observed to be 17.3% among Ashkenazi Jews (37). These observations suggest that this allele may have arisen following the migration of Jews out of Italy and into northern Europe. In view of the fact that the frequency of this allele is some five to six times higher that other common recessive alleles, the contemporary frequencies of which are thought to have been influenced by genetic drift, it is quite possible that the high frequency of the nonclassical 21-hydroxylase gene may have been influenced by selection. The occurrence of this mutation in linkage disequilibrium with a specific histocompatibility leucocyte antigen haplotype suggests a mechanism by which this selection may have occurred (38). Similarly, other population-specific and relatively common mutations among Ashkenazi Jews, including BLM 6 bp-del/7 bp-ins, BRCA2 6174delT, N-aspartyl-acylase E285A, CFTR W1282X, FAC IVS4DS A->T +4, and hexosaminidase A 4-bp ins ex11, were not found among the Roman Jews, supporting the idea that these mutations were recent in their origin.
This study is the first report of Mendelian genetic conditions among the Roman Jews, and, thus, has clinical implications for this population. Assuming that these genes are in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequencies with which people with these conditions may be found in the Roman Jewish community are 1:10 for factor V Leiden, 1:96 for familial Mediterranean fever, 1:3,600 for factor XI deficiency, 1:1,792 for nonsyndromic hereditary deafness, 1:7,744 for cystic fibrosis, and 1:30,976 for Gaucher disease. Given the size of the Roman Jewish community (16,000), we anticipate that there may be one or more people with nonsyndromic recessive deafness, cystic fibrosis or with factor XI deficiency and many with familial Mediterreanean fever and factor V Leiden.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
Received August 24, 1999.
Revised October 12, 1999.
Accepted October 12, 1999.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
G. Zadra, R. Asselta, M.L. Tenchini, G. Castaman, U. Seligsohn, P.M. Mannucci, and S. Duga Reply to: [Factor XI mutation and the origin of Ashkenazi Jews. Haematologica 2008; 93:e59] Haematologica, October 1, 2008; 93(10): e60 - e60. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. Zadra, R. Asselta, M. L. Tenchini, G. Castaman, U. Seligsohn, P. M. Mannucci, and S. Duga Simultaneous genotyping of coagulation factor XI type II and type III mutations by multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction to determine their prevalence in healthy and factor XI-deficient Italians Haematologica, May 1, 2008; 93(5): 715 - 721. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Romualdi, D. Balding, I. S. Nasidze, G. Risch, M. Robichaux, S. T. Sherry, M. Stoneking, M. A. Batzer, and G. Barbujani Patterns of Human Diversity, within and among Continents, Inferred from Biallelic DNA Polymorphisms Genome Res., April 1, 2002; 12(4): 602 - 612. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. F. Hammer, A. J. Redd, E. T. Wood, M. R. Bonner, H. Jarjanazi, T. Karafet, S. Santachiara-Benerecetti, A. Oppenheim, M. A. Jobling, T. Jenkins, et al. Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes PNAS, June 6, 2000; 97(12): 6769 - 6774. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Endocrinology | Endocrine Reviews | J. Clin. End. & Metab. |
| Molecular Endocrinology | Recent Prog. Horm. Res. | All Endocrine Journals |