Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 1983 Nov;35(6):1258-69.

The Tay-Sachs disease gene in North American Jewish populations: geographic variations and origin

G M Petersen, J I Rotter, R M Cantor, L L Field, S Greenwald, J S Lim, C Roy, V Schoenfeld, J A Lowden, M M Kaback
Comparative Study

The Tay-Sachs disease gene in North American Jewish populations: geographic variations and origin

G M Petersen et al. Am J Hum Genet. 1983 Nov.

Abstract

From data collected in a North American Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) heterozygote screening program, the TSD carrier frequency among 46,304 Jewish individuals was found to be .0324 (1 in 31 individuals). This frequency is consistent with earlier estimates based on TSD incidence data. TSD carrier frequencies were then examined by single country and single region of origin in 28,029 Jews within this sample for whom such data were available for analysis. Jews with Polish and/or Russian ancestry constituted 88% of this sample and had a TSD carrier frequency of .0327. No TSD carriers were observed among the 166 Jews of Near Eastern origins. Relative to Jews of Polish and Russian origins, there was at least a twofold increase in the TSD carrier frequency in Jews of Austrian, Hungarian, and Czechoslovakian origins (P less than .005). These findings suggest that the TSD gene proliferated among the antecedents of modern Ashkenazi Jewry after the Second Diaspora (70 A.D.) and before their major migrations to regions of Poland and Russia (before 1100 A.D.).

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Am J Hum Genet. 1966 Jul;18(4):313-27 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1969 Aug 15;165(3894):698-700 - PubMed
    1. N Engl J Med. 1970 Jul 2;283(1):15-20 - PubMed
    1. Ann Hum Genet. 1970 Jan;33(3):307-17 - PubMed
    1. Am J Hum Genet. 1972 May;24(3):339-40 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources