Gene Test Shows Spain's Jewish and Muslim Mix

I read on several Blogs references to that study.

Just to set the record straight. There is NO such a thing as a Jewish gene. DNA testing on the Y Chromosome for men does not determine any link to any religion. It just shows that that people who are Jewish today have a high probability to share the same DNA as people who live in a certain area of the world. Given the migration of Jews over the milleniums, one can only guess their Country of Origin.

Reference the recent article about Spain, you may wish to read the following study . A recent Gene Test Shows Spain's Jewish and Muslim Mix. That paper was reported at the following sites:

New York Times 5th Dec 2008
International Herald Tribune 5 Dec 2008
Israel National News
The Guardian 7 Dec 2008

The following comment by Gil Ronen in the Israeli National News is worth noting:

The term "Sephardic" is often used in a wider sense, however, to include most Jews of Asian and African origin, who use a Sephardic style of liturgy.

The American Journal of Human Genetics website has downloadable articles online and pdfs and text.

In 2004, we did a study on DNA based on 50 Jewish men selected to share the same family name but not having a known common ancestor. You can see the results and download a copy of my DNA and Common Ancestry paper . Today that study has been expanded and has over 100 participants (men and women). The complete data is available at the FTDNA website

Alain