GENETIC VARIATION OF HLA CLASS II AND SHORT TANDEM REPEATS AMONG DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS IN ISRAEL

GENETIC VARIATION OF HLA CLASS II AND SHORT TANDEM REPEATS AMONG DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS IN ISRAEL. A.Amar(1,2), U. Motro (3), O.J.Kwon (2), C.S. Witt (4), B.Bonne-Tamir (5)and C. Brautbar (1,2). 1-Tissue Typing Unit, 2-The Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center, 3-Department of Statistics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, 4-Department of Clinical Immunology, Royal Perth Hospital, Australia, 5-Department of Human Genetics Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

The Jewish population in Israel comprises of inhabitants of heterogeneous ethnic backgrounds. Genetic studies classify the Israeli Jewish population into two major groups: Ashkenazi from Central and Eastern Europe and Sephardic or non Ashkenazi, from the Mediterranean and North Africa. The present study was aimed at elucidating the differential influx of HLA class II allleles and three STR loci located on 3 different chromosomes in Ashkenazi and in various non-Ashkenazi subgroups. A large number of alleles were detected at each of the loci examined (DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, CSF1PO, TPOX and THO1). In addition, gene frequencies, characteristic DR/DQ linkage disequilibria, population distances and their corresponding dendogram, were used to study the relationship between Israelis as a group, non Jewish Caucasians and Blacks. These populations could be grouped into three main clusters: the first consists of all the Israeli groups with the exception of the Ethiopian Jews; the second consists of non Jewish Caucasians, with a clear distinction seen between Israelis and non Jewish Europeans and U.S. Caucasians; the third, composed of Blacks, is distincly different from the other populations. Ethiopian Jews were found to be closer to the Blacks than to any of the Israeli Jewish groups. We have shown that Jews share common features, a fact that points to a common ancestry. A certain degree of admixture with their pre-immigration neighbors exists despite the cultural and religious constraints against intermarriage.