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The different loci studied revealed close similarity between the Berbers and other north African groups, mainly with Moroccan Arabic-speakers, which is in accord with the hypothesis that the current Moroccan population has a strong Berber background. Differences in the spatial pattern of allele frequencies also are compatible with specific population histories in distinct Mediterranean areas, rather than general population movements across the whole region.

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Despite the impact of Arab invasions, present-day North Africans appear to be of Berber substratum (Arnaiz-Villena et al. 1999; GomezCasado et al. 2000; Sanchez-Velasco et al. 2003), being genetically distinct form Middle Eastern Arabs (GomezCasado et al. 2000). While the gene flow from Arab newcomers was low in North Africans, Arab invasions had strong social and cultural effects , evidenced by the adoption of Islam and wide-spread speaking of Arabic in most Southern Mediterranean communities. Even Tamazight (North African Berber-language) was influenced by the Arabic language and its understanding by different tribes was difficult.

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The analyses performed showed that current North Africans are closely related to Tunisian (Zrawa and Matmata) and Moroccan (Sousse-Agadir and Eljadida) Berbers, suggesting that North Africans have a genetic Berber profile. On the contrary, North Africans displayed a greater distance from the Arabs of Levant (Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians), indicating low genetic contribution of Phoenician and Levant Arab invasion of North Africa.

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In conclusion, our analysis, based on genetic NeighbourJoining trees, correspondence analysis, genetic distances and haplotype construction, shows that the Tunisian Berbers studied here are related to other (non-Berber) Tunisians, North Africans and Iberians (Basques and Spaniards) and that all these populations show big distances to Eastern Mediterraneans and Middle Eastern Arabs (Gomez-Casado et al. 2000; Abdennaji Guenounou et al. 2006; Hajjej et al. 2006a; b). Thus, Tunisian Berbers are not genetically distinguishable from the present day Tunisian and North African populations, in spite of cultural differences (language) between them.

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North African populations are also ethnically complex, and it is common to differentiate between Arab and Berber (Amazigh) groups based on cultural practices, such as language. Although historically and sociologically this consideration is assumed, no genetic differences have been reported between Arabs and Berbers when analyzing individual genetic markers (Bosch et al. 1997,, 2001; Plaza et al. 2003; Arredi et al. 2004; Coudray et al. 2009; Fadhlaoui-Zid et al. 2011b; Fadhlaoui-Zid et al. 2013; Bekada et al. 2015).However, the present analysis of additional Berber samples reinforces the idea of no strong genetic distinction between Arabs and most Berber groups.

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The close genetic relationship of the two Arabspeaking populations with the Berber-speaking samples could be explained assuming a small number of Arabs coming from the Arabian Peninsula, as compared with that of the autochthonous Berbers , resulting in a weak Arab genetic influence in the current mixed North Africans. In conclusion, the results discussed here allow us to postulate that the general ancient genetic profile of the native North Africans—the Berbers—is not very different from that of the present-day North African populations, despite some admixture with other peoples, particularly Arabs, during successive historical periods. The populations of the Maghreb seem to share a substantial genetic background, regardless of culture and geography.

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The gene profile of Arabic-speaking Moroccans has been compared with those of other Mediterranean populations in order to provide additional information about the history of their origins. Our HLA data suggest that most Moroccans are of a Berber (Imazighen) origin and that Arabs who invaded North Africa and Spain in the 7th century A.D. did not substantially contributed to the gene pool;

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Interestingly, the genetic influence of the Near East on Libyan and Egyptian genomes is noticeable. This pattern contrasts with that found in the Maghreb (western North Africa), where that influence is more reduced and comparable to that recorded from western Europe. The observed pattern seems to disagree with conclusions from Arauna et al. (2017), who stated that all of northern Africa is mixed with the Near East.

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The close genetic relationship of the two Arabspeaking populations with the Berber-speaking samples could be explained assuming a small number of Arabs coming from the Arabian Peninsula, as compared with that of the autochthonous Berbers, resulting in a weak Arab genetic influence in the current mixed North Africans. In conclusion, the results discussed here allow us to postulate that the general ancient genetic profile of the native North Africans—the Berbers—is not very different from that of the present-day North African populations, despite some admixture with other peoples, particularly Arabs, during successive historical periods. The populations of the Maghreb seem to share a substantial genetic background, regardless of culture and geography.

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In conclusion, our analysis, based on genetic NeighbourJoining trees, correspondence analysis, genetic distances and haplotype construction, shows that the Tunisian Berbers studied here are related to other (non-Berber) Tunisians, North Africans and Iberians (Basques and Spaniards) and that all these populations show big distances to Eastern Mediterraneans and Middle Eastern Arabs (Gomez-Casado et al. 2000; Abdennaji Guenounou et al. 2006; Hajjej et al. 2006a; b). Thus, Tunisian Berbers are not genetically distinguishable from the present day Tunisian and North African populations, in spite of cultural differences (language) between them.

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However, according to AMOVA analyses, no significant Middle Eastern contribution to the genetic structure of North Africans has been detected (Tables 2) suggesting a low impact of Eastern migrations into the North African gene pool. In fact, depending on the type of marker used, the impact of Middle Easterns (Eurasians/ Arabs) on North African genetics is variable and the amount of their genetic trace is usually different from one population to another (Amir et al. 2015; Cherni et al. 2016; Elkamel et al.2017).

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Berbers populations used in this work are closely linked to each other, as well as to present-day North Africans, and to Western Mediterranean populations, especially Iberians. Indeed, the Moroccan Berbers are not genetically different from the current Moroccans, nor those of neighboring populations, like Algerians and Tunisians. This also applies to Tunisian Berbers, except those of the island of Djerba, who appear to be related to Eastern Mediterranean populations, including Levant Arabs. This suggests that North African Berbers are in perfect harmony with their environments, and that differences between them are cultural rather than genetic due to 7th century Arabization of the region.

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In addition, both historical records (McEvedy 1980) and genetic evidence (Bosch et al. 1997, 1999, 2000; Comas et al. 2000; Flores et al. 2001) support the notion that more recent historical processes [e.g. invasions into North Africa by the Phoenicians (814 BC), the Vandals (AD 429), the Byzantines (AD 533) and the Arabs (7th century)], had very limited demographic impact.

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This suggests that in the gene flow from 7th century BC, newcomers from the Arabian Peninsula were low in North Africa. These facts are evident in dendrograms constructed with high and genenc resolution HLA typing (unpublished). Also, these relationships are even more evident in the correspondence analyses, where Moroccans cluster together with western European and African Mediterraneans (Berbers, Algerians and Iberians) apart from the Middle-East Mediterraneans (Jews and Lebanese).

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In NA Berber and Arab speaking Moroccans cluster together and appear to be well differentiated from European and sub-Saharan populations. From this it
follows that either the Arab occupation was mainly a cultural diffusion with little genetic impact on the resident population or that, irrespective of the linguistic differentiation both communities have undergone a high degree of admixture. The level of differentiation detected between the Maghreb and Near East (NE) (Barbujani et al. 1994; Bosch et al. 1997) favors the former supposition.

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Flores et al., Genetic contribution of North Africans to Iberia
 

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Posted by Antalas (Member # 23506) on :
 
My results in comparison to Arabs :




Difference is like day and night.
 

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Posted by the lioness, (Member # 17353) on :
 

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Originally posted by Antalas:

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Interestingly, the genetic influence of the Near East on Libyan and Egyptian genomes is noticeable. This pattern contrasts with that found in the Maghreb (western North Africa), where that influence is more reduced and comparable to that recorded from western Europe. The observed pattern seems to disagree with conclusions from Arauna et al. (2017), who stated that all of northern Africa is mixed with the Near East.

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https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/37/4/1041/5670533

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The estimation of the dates of admixture in North African populations is not an easy task, as a large number of potential ancestry components (sub-Saharan, Middle Eastern, and European), some of which have likely diverged from one another relatively recently, are difficult to differentiate. We have addressed this issue by the use of haplotype-based methods that can have more precision to detect signals of historical and recent admixture events (Hellenthal et al. 2014). Our data show that contacts with diverse populations in North Africa have been continuous at least during recent history, which implies that substantial admixture between different groups might have taken place slightly before the beginning of the current era. The admixture events estimated in North African around 7th century C.E. (fig. 5) are in agreement with the Arabic expansion in the region. A complex pattern of contributing sources is shown, with a main Middle Eastern contribution in all samples, but also a sub-Saharan contribution, which could have been introduced by the Arabs through the slave trade (Newman 1995). Moreover, the Arabic expansion is expected to produce significant changes both in the social and genetic structure of North Africa, producing not only gene flow from Middle East but also introducing a complex pattern of admixture of multiple sources, as is shown in these analyses. The present results suggest that some Berber groups, those less geographically isolated, might have incorporated Arab newcomers, although this introgression might have been different in Berber groups, which explains the genetic heterogeneity seen nowadays in Berbers. The incorporation of these Arab newcomers might have also induced a language replacement (from Berber to Arabic) in some groups, which would explain the lack of genetic differentiation observed in our results between Arab- and Berber-speaking groups. Therefore, our results show that the Arabization, the expansion of the Arab culture and language from the Arabic Peninsula to the Maghreb (i.e., Northwest Africa) starting in the 7th century C.E., was mainly a demographic process that implied gene flow and remodeled the genetic structure, rather than a mere cultural replacement as suggested previously by historical records (McEvedy 1995; Newman 1995) and uniparental markers (Bosch et al. 2001; Arredi et al. 2004). Our most recent estimated dates correlate with sub-Saharan admixture in North Africa, which is continuous during the last few centuries (from the 13th century to the 20th century, see cluster L in fig. 5), as previously suggested by historical records (Newman 1995) and genetic data (Harich et al. 2010; Henn et al. 2012).

- Recent Historical Migrations Have Shaped the Gene Pool of Arabs and Berbers in North Africa

Lara R. Arauna, Javier Mendoza-Revilla, Alex Mas-Sandoval, Hassan Izaabel, Asmahan Bekada, Soraya Benhamamouch, Karima Fadhlaoui-Zid, Pierre Zalloua, Garrett Hellenthal, David Comas

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Originally posted by Antalas:
My results in comparison to Arabs :




Difference is like day and night.

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Originally posted by Antalas:

The analyses performed showed that current North Africans are closely related to Tunisian (Zrawa and Matmata) and Moroccan (Sousse-Agadir and Eljadida) Berbers, suggesting that North Africans have a genetic Berber profile. On the contrary, North Africans displayed a greater distance from the Arabs of Levant (Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians), indicating low genetic contribution of Phoenician and Levant Arab invasion of North
Africa.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0192269#sec021

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CONCLUSION

This study supports the notion that Arabs are
divided into four groups:

●The first (BLUE) consisting of
North Africans, Saudis, Kuwaitis, and Yemenis
with relatedness to Western Mediterraneans,
including Iberians.

●The second (RED) includes Levantine Arabs (Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese, and Syrians), Iraqi, and Egyptians, who appear to be related to the Eastern Mediterranean and Iranians, who in turn belonged to 'Great Levant' historically described.

●The third (GREEN) consists of Sudanese and Comorians who associate with Sub-Saharan Africans.

●The fourth group(PINK) of Arabs comprises Omanis, Emiratis, and Bahrainis. This group associates with heterogeneous populations (Mediterranean, Asian and sub-Saharan).

** Lastly, the two main indigenous minorities, Berbers and Kurds, are not genetically different from the ‘host’ and neighboring populations.




The genetic heterogeneity of Arab populations as inferred from HLA genes
Abdelhafidh Hajjej ,Wassim Y. Almawi,Antonio Arnaiz-Villena,Lasmar Hattab,Slama Hmida
Published: March 9, 2018

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Originally posted by Antalas:

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[QUOTE] The analyses performed showed that current North Africans are closely related to Tunisian (Zrawa and Matmata) and Moroccan (Sousse-Agadir and Eljadida) Berbers, suggesting that North Africans have a genetic Berber profile. On the contrary, North Africans displayed a greater distance from the Arabs of Levant (Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians), indicating low genetic contribution of Phoenician and Levant Arab invasion of North Africa.

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https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0192269#sec021

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Saudi populations used in this study originated from Eastern Saudi Arabia, especially from Riyadh province. There is no reliable HLA data on Eastern Saudi Arabia that shed light on pre-Islamic history; some ancient people may have originated from old Persians, but quantification is difficult and undetermined [91]. The genetic heterogeneity between Eastern and Western Saudi Arabia is very possible, and should be taken into account in further interpretation. All analyses performed here, using HLA-A,-B, -DRB1, and DQB1 markers support the notion that Saudis along with the Kuwaitis and Yemenis are closely related to North Africans.

The most plausible explanation for West Arabia and Yemen clustering with Iberian/North Africans is a possible important massive migration that occurred when Sahara underwent desiccation in all directions [92, 93]. Cultural and language relatedness of many Mediterranean languages, including old Iberian and Basque [92], with Berber language are concordant with our genetic findings and Saharan origin hypothesis; also a part of Arabian Peninsula inhabitants (including Yemen) may had been reached by Saharan people. In fact, Malika Hachid who has been studying Saharan and North African Archaeology, culture and rock painting/writing of prehistoric Sahara, even suggests that first known writing alphabet was originated in Sahara. Proto-Berber writing rock characters have been used (very similar to present day used Berber scripts). This Proto-Berber language could have appeared 5,000 years BC [94, 95].

Explanation to HLA Kuwait genetic similarity to this group seems more difficult to achieve but interaction between Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia through this strategic Kuwait area is documented since 6,500 years BC (Ubard Period)

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More interestingly, the genetic closeness of the Libyan Tuareg lineages to the haplotypes from Saudi Arabia and Israel can be interpreted as the result of the arrival of pastoral groups from the Near East into North Africa in the early middle Holocene, which is documented by the appearance of sheep and goats in the archaeological records of Egypt and in the Sahara as well (Vermeersch et al., 1994; Wendorf & Schild, 1994; Bradley et al., 1996; Close 2002; Kuper & Kropelin, 2006)"

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Originally posted by Antalas:
It does not contradict anything it talks about a north african influx towards the arabian peninsula during the neolithic or in the opposite direction as pointed out by other studies :

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More interestingly, the genetic closeness of the Libyan Tuareg lineages to the haplotypes from Saudi Arabia and Israel can be interpreted as the result of the arrival of pastoral groups from the Near East into North Africa in the early middle Holocene, which is documented by the appearance of sheep and goats in the archaeological records of Egypt and in the Sahara as well (Vermeersch et al., 1994; Wendorf & Schild, 1994; Bradley et al., 1996; Close 2002; Kuper & Kropelin, 2006)"

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-1809.2009.00526.x?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_qy6L25w85Y6mXEUXb9ha4dYzklAbCROFBli1PDYLroQ-1635253895-0-gqNtZGzNAjujcnBszQm9

Anyway that's simply their speculation to explain some shared markers so it says nothing about the medieval arab conquest.


Again try to contradict all the quotes I posted not simply trying to twist what one author says. Moreover I already posted tons of iron age/copper age dna results and they are all similar to modern africans further confirming that arabs didn't and couldn't substantially impact the berber mass.

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The close relatedness of Levant Arabs to Egyptians, as confirmed genetic distances using HLA markers, may be due to three reasons. First, Egypt is a neighbor to Levant Arab countries, and historically part of the Levant. Second, the Egyptians invaded the Levant several times throughout history; the most significant was 1468 BC invasion, where they settled for 12 centuries [99]. Third, the Canaanites, the likely ancestors of Levant Arabs, may have originated from Africa through Egypt, where they settled for a long period, suggesting likely admixture between Canaanites and Egyptians.

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Second, just two haplogroups predominate within North Africa, together making up almost two-thirds of the male lineages: E3b2 and J* (42% and 20%, respectively). E3b2 is rare outside North Africa (Cruciani et al. 2004; Semino et al. 2004 and references therein), and is otherwise known only from Mali, Niger, and Sudan to the immediate south, and the Near East and Southern Europe at very low frequencies. Haplogroup J reaches its highest frequencies in the Middle East (Semino et al. 2004 and references therein), whereas the J-276 lineage (equivalent to J* here) is most frequent in Palestinian Arabs and Bedouins. Lineages can rise to high frequency because of biological selection, social selection, and/or neutral drift. There is a suggestion that weak negative selection due to partial deletion of genes needed for spermatogenesis could act on both E3b2 and J (Repping et al. 2003), but this would tend to decrease their frequency, and there is no evidence for positive selection. It therefore seems likely that their increase was due to drift despite any negative selection, implying that male effective population size has been small. Indeed, gene diversity values increase along a latitudinal axis from west to east (fig. 2), and much of this variation is accounted for by haplogroup E3b2, which decreases in frequency in a corresponding fashion from ∼76% in the Saharawis in Morocco to ∼10% in Egypt (fig. 2). The same haplogroup has increased in frequency in many different populations within North Africa, so there must have been gene flow between them

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Originally posted by Antalas:
J were already present in preislamic North Africa

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Originally posted by the lioness,:

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Originally posted by Antalas:
J were already present in preislamic North Africa

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where did the J come from?

Pre-Islamic is not synonymous with pre-Arab

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