SNP Analysis

[While this page dates back to 2014, it remains largely accurate, except insofar as it refers to the limited number of results of full Y-DNA sequencing that have been received to date. As of July 2021, we have received full Y-DNA results for nearly 250 R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites.]

Because Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms ("SNPs") mutate less often and more predictably than Standard Tandem Repeats ("STRs"), SNPs will ultimately be more reliable than STRs in identifying the genealogical relationships among individual R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites and should provide additional insight into the relationship of R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites to their closest matches who are not R1a1a Ashkenazi Levites. (Click here for Anatole Klyosov's criticism of and analysis concerning statements made on this page of the website.)

As discussed below, the handful of results of full Y-DNA sequencing that have been received to date (from private testing and tests performed for scientific study) have allowed the identification of SNPs that appear to define (1) R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites as a whole, (2) men who are close to the R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levite mode, and (3) men who share a direct male ancestor with members of the Horowitz rabbinical family.

Those results have allowed the preliminary calculation of the age of clusters of R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites, based upon the SNPs shared by each cluster. Click here for preliminary calculations of the age of these clusters.

Click here for a schematic tree showing the SNP test results received to date for R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites. The tree identifies SNPs at or below the level of Z2469/CTS6, the level of SNPs now believed to identify R1a1a Ashkenazi Levites and their closest match.

SNPs that Distinguish R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites

Currently, R1a1a Ashkenazi Levites are characterized by the SNPs Z93+ Z94+ Z2124+ Z2122+ F1345+ Z2469/CTS6+ Y2619+, going from upstream to downstream. These SNPs are characteristic of all R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites. (Click here for a discussion of FTDNA's varying Y-DNA haplogroup designations for R1a1a Ashkenazi Levites.)

As of July 2014, following the receipt of the initial full Y-DNA test results from Full Genomes Corp. and FTDNA's Big Y test, Y-DNA results from Scotland's DNA, and scientific studies (Rootsi & Behar's 2013 paper and the Personal Genomes Project), and analysis by Full Genomes Corp. (in particular, Leon Kull), Vladimir Tagankin of YFull, and Michał Milewski and Mariusz Wilkoszewski of the FTDNA R1a1a and Subclades Y-DNA Project, we now know the following information concerning R1a1a Ashkenazi Levite SNPs. (For historical information relating to the identification of SNPs that are found in R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites and their closest matches or in R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites alone, click here.)

SNPs Shared by R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites and Their Iberian Match (CTS6 Level)

We have now identified 11 SNPs that are shared by R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites and their Iberian match that are located downstream from Z2472/F1345/FGC99 and F2997 (SNPs shared by R1a1a Ashkenazi Levites and their Iberian match with their next closest match, Kussad (116213), who is F1345+ Z2469/CTS6-). This website posts a tree and a table showing the SNPs that are currently grouped at the CTS6 level.

SNPs Shared by R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites but Not Their Iberian Match (Y2619 Level)

We have now identified 22 SNPs that are shared by all R1a-Y2619 Ashkenazi Levites who have done full Y-DNA testing but not by their Iberian match, i.e., they are at the Y2619 level. This website posts a tree and a table showing the SNPs that are currently grouped at the CTS6 level.