This document summarizes genetic studies of Indian Jewish populations, including the Mumbai Jews and Cochin Jews. It finds that while Indian Jews have a minor Middle Eastern ancestry component, the surrounding Indian populations do not. It estimates that the Cochin Jews first migrated to India in the 5th century, followed by the Mumbai Jews in the 10th century. Through initial religious conversion followed by intermarriage and isolation, the Indian Jews developed a unique genetic profile combining Middle Eastern and South Asian ancestry.

1. Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Estonian Biocentre, Estonia
Migration, Admixture and Assimilation: Demographic history of
Indian Jews

2. • Total ~5-6000 - half of them live in Mumbai
(Bombay)
• June 2016- recognized as official minority religious
group in Maharashtra state (India)
• Lack of written records about their arrival in India
Genetic studies till date
Classical marker study suggests their allele sharing
with Yemenite Jews and South Indian populations
(Cohen et al 1980).
mtDNA- South Asian; Y chromosome- Indian and
Middle Eastern (Behar et al. 2008, 2010).
Autosomal study has reported minor Middle
Eastern specific ancestry (Behar et al. 2010).
Population details
Present study
mtDNA
Y chromosome
Autosome

3. Principle Component (PC) analysis

4. ADMIXTURE analysis
Indian Jews

5. Geospatial distribution of Middle Eastern specific ancestry
Mumbai Jews
Cochin Jews

6. Shared drift analysis

7. Shared drift analysis
f3 = (Paniya; Yemen_Jews,X) f3 = (Paniya; Druze,X)
X= North India Populations f3 SD X= North India Populations f3 SD
GIH 4.21 x 10-2
0.11 x 10-2
GIH 4.35 x 10-2
0.11 x 10-2
Bhil 3.07 x 10-2
0.12 x 10-2
Bhil 3.18 x 10-2
0.12 x 10-2
Mumbai Jews 5.47 x 10-2
0.15 x 10-2
Mumbai Jews 5.51 x 10-2
0.15 x 10-2
X= South India Populations X= South India Populations
Kurumba 2.92 x 10-2
0.11 x 10-2
Kurumba 2.99 x 10-2
0.11 x 10-2
Sakilli 2.98 x 10-2
0.12 x 10-2
Sakilli 3.08 x 10-2
0.12 x 10-2
Cochin Jews 1 4.12 x 10-2
0.12 x 10-2
Cochin Jews 1 4.16 x 10-2
0.13 x 10-2
Cochin Jews 2 4.59 x 10-2
0.14 x 10-2
Cochin Jews 2 4.65 x 10-2
0.15 x 10-2

8. fineSTRUCTURE analysis
We didn’t find any significant
difference in chunk donation
between Middle Eastern
Jewish and non-Jewish
populations to the Indian
Jewish (fineSTRUCTURE and
D statistics tests).

9. Runs of Homozygosity (RoH) analysis

10. Time of Admixture
Waldman et al. 2016
Admixed population Surrogate population 1 Surrogate population 2 Generations from Admixture (SD) p value Z score
Mumbai Jews GIH Druze 37 (9) 6.9 x10-5 3.98
Cochin Jews 1 Kurumba - 37 (11) 1.6 x10-4 3.23
Cochin Jews 2 Kurumba Druze 53 (11) 3.1 x 10-5 4.17

11. Haploid DNA analysis

12. Haploid DNA analysis
4
Cochin
Jews
16311
Costa et al. 2013

13. Conclusions
 Middle Eastern specific ancestry component among Indian Jewish
communities, but virtually negligible in their local neighbouring
Indian populations.
 Cochin Jews: the first Jewish community migrated to India during
5th century followed by Mumbai Jews in 10th century.
 Initial religious conversion followed by excessive admixture and
relative isolation were the major factors for present demography
of Indian Jews.

14. Acknowledgements
Estonian Biocentre, and Univ. of Tartu, Estonia
Prof. Richard Villems
Amala Institute of Medical Science, Thrissur, India
Dr. Mini Kariappa
CSIR-CCMB Hyderabad, India
Dr. Niraj Rai
Manvendra Singh
Rakesh Tamang
Dr. Vijay Kumar Singh
Dr. K. Thangaraj
Dr. Lalji Singh
Molecular Medicine Laboratory, Rambam Health Care
Campus, Haifa
Dr. Doron M. Behar
Data Sharing:
Prof Harry Ostrer, Dr. Gil Atzmon and Dr. Alon Keinan