Project description:Contemporary Jews comprise an aggregate of ethno-religious communities whose worldwide members identify with each other through various shared religious, historical, and cultural traditions1,2. Historical evidence suggests common origins in the Middle East, followed by migrations leading to the establishment of communities of Jews in Europe, Africa, and Asia - in what is termed the Jewish Diaspora3-5. This complex demographic history imposes special challenges in attempting to address the genetic structure of the Jewish people6. While many genetic studies have shed light on Jewish diseases and origins, including those focusing on uniparentally- and biparentally-inherited markers7-16, genome-wide patterns of variation across the vast geographic span of Jewish Diaspora communities and their respective neighbors have yet to be addressed. Here we use high-density bead arrays to genotype individuals from 14 Jewish Diaspora communities, and compare these patterns of genome-wide diversity with those from 69 Old World non-Jewish populations, of which 25 have not been previously reported. These samples were carefully chosen to provide comprehensive comparisons between Jewish and non-Jewish populations in the Diaspora, as well as with non-Jewish populations from the Middle East and North Africa. Principal component and structure-like analyses identify previously unrecognized genetic substructure within the Middle East. Most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight sub-cluster that overlies Druze and Cypriot samples, but not samples from other Levantine populations or paired Diaspora host populations. In contrast, Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) and Bene Israel Indian Jews cluster with neighbouring autochthonous populations in Ethiopia and western India, respectively; despite a clear paternal link between the Bene Israel and the Levant. These results cast light on the variegated genetic architecture of the Middle East, and trace the origins of most Jewish Diaspora communities to the Levant. 466 samples are analysed on three different Illumina platforms.

Project description:Contemporary Jews comprise an aggregate of ethno-religious communities whose worldwide members identify with each other through various shared religious, historical, and cultural traditions1,2. Historical evidence suggests common origins in the Middle East, followed by migrations leading to the establishment of communities of Jews in Europe, Africa, and Asia - in what is termed the Jewish Diaspora3-5. This complex demographic history imposes special challenges in attempting to address the genetic structure of the Jewish people6. While many genetic studies have shed light on Jewish diseases and origins, including those focusing on uniparentally- and biparentally-inherited markers7-16, genome-wide patterns of variation across the vast geographic span of Jewish Diaspora communities and their respective neighbors have yet to be addressed. Here we use high-density bead arrays to genotype individuals from 14 Jewish Diaspora communities, and compare these patterns of genome-wide diversity with those from 69 Old World non-Jewish populations, of which 25 have not been previously reported. These samples were carefully chosen to provide comprehensive comparisons between Jewish and non-Jewish populations in the Diaspora, as well as with non-Jewish populations from the Middle East and North Africa. Principal component and structure-like analyses identify previously unrecognized genetic substructure within the Middle East. Most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight sub-cluster that overlies Druze and Cypriot samples, but not samples from other Levantine populations or paired Diaspora host populations. In contrast, Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) and Bene Israel Indian Jews cluster with neighbouring autochthonous populations in Ethiopia and western India, respectively; despite a clear paternal link between the Bene Israel and the Levant. These results cast light on the variegated genetic architecture of the Middle East, and trace the origins of most Jewish Diaspora communities to the Levant.

Project description:Esophageal cancer is among the 10 most common malignancies and ranks as the 6th leading cause of death from cancer. It constitutes 7% of all gastrointestinal cancers and is one of the most lethal of all cancers. The large variation in the incidence of esophageal cancer in different geographic regions has often been thought to be due to variation in exposure to environmental factors; however, hereditary factors may also contribute to the variation in rates. A positive family history was found to be associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer in several case-control and cohort studies in China. Familial aggregation also has been observed in Iran and Japan. The cancer data generated from six hospital based cancer registries in India under National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP, Annual Report, 2003-2004) has revealed that the occurrence of esophageal cancer in Assam is highest in India. The aggregation of esophageal cancer in families is a long-observed and well-documented phenomenon in Assam of North-east part of India (AAR=32.6). In Assam high incidence of esophageal cancer with familial aggregation need investigation for etiology. The etiology of esophageal cancer in Northeast Indian population is different from other population at India due to wide variations in dietary habits or nutritional factors, tobacco chewing and alcohol habits. With in these high-risk regions, studies have shown a strong tendency toward familial aggregation, suggesting that genetic susceptibility, in conjunction with potential environmental exposures, may be involved in the etiology of esophageal cancer. Familial clustering of cancer has been one of the main avenues to the understanding of cancer etiology and the signal to the involvement of heritable genes. Familial clustering of cancer may be due to environmental factors shared by family members or due to shared genes. However, the familial aggregation of esophageal cancer among the population in northeast India may reflect the influence of environmental factors operating on individuals who are already genetically susceptible. Epidemiological studies indicate that tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption are the major factors for esophageal cancer, the role of genetic factors for familial aggregation has not been elucidated. In this study, tumor and matched normal tissue from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients with a family history of upper gastrointestinal cancer were analyzed using cDNA microarray containing 10,000genes to evaluate gene expression differences in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients with a family history of upper gastrointestinal cancer from a high- risk area in India. To identify alteration in genes and molecular functional pathways in esophageal cancer in a high incidence region of India where there is wide spread use of tobacco and betel quid with fermented areca nuts and familial aggregation cancer. Keywords: Gene Expression

Dataset Information

Fasciolopsis buski Genome sequencing

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets