TSHB R75G is a founder variant and prevalent cause of low or undetectable TSH in Indian Jews

Objective: Bi-allelic loss-of-function mutations in TSHB, encoding the beta-subunit of TSH, cause congenital non-goiterous hypothyroidism. Homozygosity for the TSHB p.R75G variant, previously described in South Asian individuals, does not alter TSH function, but abrogates its detection by some immune-detection-based platforms, leading to erroneous diagnosis of hyperthyroidism. We set out to identify and determine carrier rate of the p.R75G variant among clinically euthyroid Bene Israel Indian Jews, to examine possible founder origin of this variant worldwide and to determine phenotypic effects of its heterozygosity. Design: Molecular genetic studies of Bene Israel Jews and comparative studies with South Asian cohort. Methods: TSHB p.R75G variant tested by Sanger sequencing and RFLP. Haplotype analysis in the vicinity of the TSHB gene performed using SNP arrays. Results: Clinically euthyroid individuals with low or undetectable TSH levels from three apparently unrelated Israeli Jewish families of Bene Israel ethnicity, originating from the Mumbai region of India, were found heterozygous or homozygous for the p.R75G TSHB variant. Extremely high carrier rate of p.R75G TSHB in Bene Israel Indian Jews (~4%) was observed. A haplotype block of 239.7kB in the vicinity of TSHB shared by Bene Israel and individuals of South Asian origin was detected. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the high prevalence of the R75G TSHB variant in euthyroid Bene Israel Indian Jews, demonstrate that heterozygosity of this variant can cause erroneous detection of subnormal TSH levels, and show that R75G TSHB is an ancient founder variant, delineating shared ancestry of its carriers.

Nesebname-i Müluk (Moğol Kısmı) Ve Muizzü’l- Ensab’ın Biçim Ve İçerik Açısından Mukayesesi

"Nesebname-i Müluk or Şu’ab-ı Pencgâne is a genealogical work which is to be found in the corpus of the famous vizier of Ilkhanate, Rashid al-Din Fazl Allah. This work contains the names of the rulers and their families in world history alongside partial descriptions, including ancestors and caliphs of Prophet Muhammed, rulers of Khitai, Kaisers (rulers of Europe), ancestors and descendants of Genghis Khan, rulers of Bene Israel. His access to historical information about China, the Islamic world, Byzantine, Turkish and Mongol and to include them in the narrative was made possible by Rashid al-Din’s service as a statesman and historian at the Ilkhanate court. The additional part regarding Jewish history is related to Rashid al-Din’s background. In the work, the nations of Noah’s sons and human beings are divided into different branches, the names of the rulers of each branch are mentioned and the ancestors and descendants of Genghis Khan are included as an important part of this whole. Thus, the Mongolian dynasties were defined as legitimate dynasties in accordance with Islamic historiography within world history. The way the names in the pedigree are written (writing in a round or square frame, ink color, etc.) reinforces the theme of legitimizing the Cengiz lineage. Shu’ab has been both a source and an example for the Muizzü’l-ensab prepared in the Timurid palace in terms of form and content. The reproduction of the work in the Timurid palace reflects the perceptions and realities of the Timurid period and is a valuable example of the transfer and updating of tradition. The Muizzü’l-ensab produced in the Timurid court is anonymous and is not as large as the genealogy in the Reşidüddin’s corpus; it is limited to the lineage of Genghis Khan and Emir Timur and the officers who served them. Muizz serves the legitimacy of the Timurid rulers."

Interview with Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca

Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca was born in Bombay to Prof. Nissim Ezekiel and Daisy Ezekiel. She was raised in a Bene-Israel Jewish family in Bombay, India.* She attended Queen Mary’s School, St. Xavier’s College, Bombay University and Oxford Brookes University, U.K. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English, American Literature and Education. Her career spanned over four decades in Indian colleges, American International Schools and Canada, teaching English, French and Spanish. She also held the position of Career Counsellor at the International School in India, where she taught Advanced Placement and other courses in English for sixteen years.She is a published poet. Her first book, Family Sunday and other Poems, was published in 1989, with a second edition in 1990. She has read her poems over All India Radio Bombay, and her poems have also appeared in Poetry India, SETU Magazine, Muse India and Destiny Poets, UK, to name a few. She has her poetry page at https://www.facebook.com/kemendoncapoetry.Kavita also writes short fiction. Her work is strongly influenced by her father’s work. (The late Nissim Ezekiel was an eminent poet, well-known in India and overseas). She lives in Calgary, Canada, with her family.This interview was conducted via emails in the rainy days of June 2020.

Ezekiel, Nissim (1924–2004)

Nissim Ezekiel was a poet, playwright, director of plays, university professor, art critic, literary editor, and reviewer. Born to academic Marathi-speaking, Jewish parents of the minority Bene-Israel persuasion, Ezekiel’s existence within cosmopolitan Mumbai (then Bombay) rendered complex his poetic sensibility. After a Bachelor’s degree in literature at Wilson College, Bombay, in 1947 and some political engagement with M.N. Roy’s Radical Democratic Party, he sailed to England for further studies in 1948. As a student of philosophy at Birkbeck College, London, he published his first volume of poetry, A Time to Change (1951).

The genetics of Bene Israel from India reveals both substantial Jewish and Indian ancestry

The Bene Israel Jewish community from West India is a unique population whose history before the 18th century remains largely unknown. Bene Israel members consider themselves as descendants of Jews, yet the identity of Jewish ancestors and their arrival time to India are unknown, with speculations on arrival time varying between the 8th century BCE and the 6th century CE. Here, we characterize the genetic history of Bene Israel by collecting and genotyping 18 Bene Israel individuals. Combining with 486 individuals from 41 other Jewish, Indian and Pakistani populations, and additional individuals from worldwide populations, we conducted comprehensive genome-wide analyses based on FST, principal component analysis, ADMIXTURE, identity-by-descent sharing, admixture linkage disequilibrium decay, haplotype sharing and allele sharing autocorrelation decay, as well as contrasted patterns between the X chromosome and the autosomes. The genetics of Bene Israel individuals resemble local Indian populations, while at the same time constituting a clearly separated and unique population in India. They are unique among Indian and Pakistani populations we analyzed in sharing considerable genetic ancestry with other Jewish populations. Putting together the results from all analyses point to Bene Israel being an admixed population with both Jewish and Indian ancestry, with the genetic contribution of each of these ancestral populations being substantial. The admixture took place in the last millennium, about 19-33 generations ago. It involved Middle-Eastern Jews and was sex-biased, with more male Jewish and local female contribution. It was followed by a population bottleneck and high endogamy, which can lead to increased prevalence of recessive diseases in this population. This study provides an example of how genetic analysis advances our knowledge of human history in cases where other disciplines lack the relevant data to do so.

The Bene Israel of India and the Politics of Jewish Identity

This paper focuses on the Bene Israel community in Mumbai, a remnant of a once thriving Jewish population decimated in part because of emigration to Israel. I argue that the Bene Israel, who have been maligned because of their dark skin colour and borrowed customs, primarily from Hinduism, constitute a way of being Jewish that consciously rejects authoritarian and rabbinic hegemony. They constitute a ‘third,’ hybrid kind of space signifying that the borders of Jewish identity are permeable and flexible. They are therefore a prime example of the possibilities within Judaism not limited to a prescribed, and circumscribed system of belief and practice but a living testament to cultural and religious multiplicity.