对北非犹太人——世界上以色列以外第二大的犹太人群体——的一项遗传分析表明，这个人群形成了与众不同的集群，这一集群在相互之间以及和欧洲、中东的犹太人群体有亲缘关系，这为这个人群的有记录的历史提供了证据支持。
C.L. Campbell及其同事确定了来自15个人群的509名犹太人的遗传构成，把它与来自7个北非人群的114名非犹太人的信息进行了比较。北非犹太人表现出了高的同族结婚率，即根据习俗与他们自己的宗教和文化群体通婚。发现了两个主要的亚群：摩洛哥/阿尔及利亚以及杰尔巴/利比亚。并且发现了他们的欧洲人混合程度各不相同，前者倾向于与欧洲人相关。埃塞俄比亚和也门的犹太人群也形成了独特的具有遗传联系的机群，而格鲁吉亚的犹太人却没有。根据有记录的历史，北非犹太人是在非洲海岸殖民的首批商人。殖民之后的遗传隔离恰逢基督教以及之后的伊斯兰教的崛起。在15世纪晚期基督教宗教裁判所把西班牙裔犹太人从西班牙和葡萄牙驱逐出去的迁移后，一些与其他文化的通婚在之后的历史中出现了。这组作者说，这些遗传发现提供的信息，其可能支持和补充北非犹太人的有记录的历史。(生物谷Bioon.com)
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1204840109
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North African Jewish and non-Jewish populations form distinctive, orthogonal clusters
Christopher L. Campbella, Pier F. Palamarab,Maya Dubrovskyc,d,Laura R. Botiguée, Marc Fellousf, Gil Atzmong,h, Carole Oddouxa, Alexander Pearlmana, Li Haoi, Brenna M. Hennj, Edward Burnsg, Carlos D. Bustamantej, David Comase, Eitan Friedmanc,d, Itsik Pe'erb, and Harry Ostrera,h
North African Jews constitute the second largest Jewish Diaspora group. However, their relatedness to each other; to European, Middle Eastern, and other Jewish Diaspora groups; and to their former North African non-Jewish neighbors has not been well defined. Here, genome-wide analysis of five North African Jewish groups (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Djerban, and Libyan) and comparison with other Jewish and non-Jewish groups demonstrated distinctive North African Jewish population clusters with proximity to other Jewish populations and variable degrees of Middle Eastern, European, and North African admixture. Two major subgroups were identified by principal component, neighbor joining tree, and identity-by-descent analysis—Moroccan/Algerian and Djerban/Libyan—that varied in their degree of European admixture. These populations showed a high degree of endogamy and were part of a larger Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish group. By principal component analysis, these North African groups were orthogonal to contemporary populations from North and South Morocco, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. Thus, this study is compatible with the history of North African Jews—founding during Classical Antiquity with proselytism of local populations, followed by genetic isolation with the rise of Christianity and then Islam, and admixture following the emigration of Sephardic Jews during the Inquisition.
