Rosenberg, N.A., Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
Woolf, E., Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Pritchard, J.K., Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1-3TG, United Kingdom
Schaap, T., Department of Human Genetics, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem 91120, Israel
Gefel, D., Department of Medicine-C, Barzilai Medical Center, Ashkelon 78306, Israel
Shpirer, I., Pulmonary Institute, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, P. O. Beer Yaacov, Zerifin 70300, Israel
Lavi, U., Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet-Dagan 50250, Israel
Bonné-Tamir, B., Department of Human Genetics, Sackler School of Medicine, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel
Hillel, J., Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Feldman, M.W., Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States

Unlinked autosomal microsatellites in six Jewish and two non-Jewish populations were genotyped, and the relationships among these populations were explored. Based on considerations of clustering, pairwise population differentiation, and genetic distance, we found that the Libyan Jewish group retains genetic signatures distinguishable from those of the other populations, in agreement with some historical records on the relative isolation of this community. Our methods also identified evidence of some similarity between Ethiopian and Yemenite Jews, reflecting possible migration in the Red Sea region. We suggest that high-resolution statistical methods that use individual multilocus geno-types may make it practical to distinguish related populations of extremely recent common ancestry.