Based on the complete sequencing analysis in Ashkenazi Jews and existing complete sequences from non-Jews, the exact phylogenetic branches in which the Ashkenazi lineages could be traced were identified. The new information was used to screen a global set of haplogroup K samples to include or exclude them from these Ashkenazi lineages. The results showed that the Ashkenazi lineages were virtually absent in other populations, with the important exception of low frequencies among non-Ashkenazi Jews. These results indicate that the three Ashkenazi haplogroup K lineages are virtually restricted to this population, and were of Near Eastern rather than European origin. The same approach was followed for mitochondrial DNA haplogroup N1b, and concluded that for this haplogroup all samples belong to one expanding lineage. Taken together, these four lineages indicate that four individual women gave rise to fully 40% of contemporary Ashkenazi Jews, or approximately 3.5 million people. The coalescence times for the expansion of these four lineages coincide well with the historical timeframe of less than 2,000 years for Ashkenazi population expansion from a small founding deme, providing the most powerful and detailed information about the maternal Ashkenazi population founding event.
Based on the complete sequencing analysis in Ashkenazi Jews and existing complete sequences from non-Jews, the exact phylogenetic branches in which the Ashkenazi lineages could be traced were identified. The new information was used to screen a global set of haplogroup K samples to include or exclude them from these Ashkenazi lineages. The results showed that the Ashkenazi lineages were virtually absent in other populations, with the important exception of low frequencies among non-Ashkenazi Jews. These results indicate that the three Ashkenazi haplogroup K lineages are virtually restricted to this population, and were of Near Eastern rather than European origin. The same approach was followed for mitochondrial DNA haplogroup N1b, and concluded that for this haplogroup all samples belong to one expanding lineage. Taken together, these four lineages indicate that four individual women gave rise to fully 40% of contemporary Ashkenazi Jews, or approximately 3.5 million people. The coalescence times for the expansion of these four lineages coincide well with the historical timeframe of less than 2,000 years for Ashkenazi population expansion from a small founding deme, providing the most powerful and detailed information about the maternal Ashkenazi population founding event.