- An Alu1- polymorphism in the HEXA gene is common in Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, Israeli Arabs, and French Canadians of Quebec and northern New England. Grinshpun, J., Khosravi, R., Peleg, L., Goldman, B., Kaplan, F., Triggs-Raine, B., Navon, R. Hum. Mutat. (1995)