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Biddanda A, Bandyopadhyay E, de la Fuente Castro C, Witonsky D, Urban Aragon JA, Pasupuleti N, Moots HM, Fonseca R, Freilich S, Stanisavic J, Willis T, Menon A, Mustak MS, Kodira CD, Naren AP, Sikdar M, Rai N, Raghavan M. Distinct positions of genetic and oral histories: Perspectives from India. HGG ADVANCES 2024; 5:100305. [PMID: 38720459 PMCID: PMC11153255 DOI: 10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2024] [Revised: 05/04/2024] [Accepted: 05/04/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Over the past decade, genomic data have contributed to several insights on global human population histories. These studies have been met both with interest and critically, particularly by populations with oral histories that are records of their past and often reference their origins. While several studies have reported concordance between oral and genetic histories, there is potential for tension that may stem from genetic histories being prioritized or used to confirm community-based knowledge and ethnography, especially if they differ. To investigate the interplay between oral and genetic histories, we focused on the southwestern region of India and analyzed whole-genome sequence data from 156 individuals identifying as Bunt, Kodava, Nair, and Kapla. We supplemented limited anthropological records on these populations with oral history accounts from community members and historical literature, focusing on references to non-local origins such as the ancient Scythians in the case of Bunt, Kodava, and Nair, members of Alexander the Great's army for the Kodava, and an African-related source for Kapla. We found these populations to be genetically most similar to other Indian populations, with the Kapla more similar to South Indian tribal populations that maximize a genetic ancestry related to Ancient Ancestral South Indians. We did not find evidence of additional genetic sources in the study populations than those known to have contributed to many other present-day South Asian populations. Our results demonstrate that oral and genetic histories may not always provide consistent accounts of population origins and motivate further community-engaged, multi-disciplinary investigations of non-local origin stories in these communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arjun Biddanda
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Esha Bandyopadhyay
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Constanza de la Fuente Castro
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Programa de Genética Humana, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - David Witonsky
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | | | - Nagarjuna Pasupuleti
- Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri, Karnataka 574199, India
| | - Hannah M Moots
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Renée Fonseca
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Suzanne Freilich
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
| | - Jovan Stanisavic
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Tabitha Willis
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Anoushka Menon
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
| | - Mohammed S Mustak
- Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri, Karnataka 574199, India
| | | | - Anjaparavanda P Naren
- Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
| | - Mithun Sikdar
- Anthropological Survey of India, Mysore, Karnataka 570026, India
| | - Niraj Rai
- Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226007, India.
| | - Maanasa Raghavan
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
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Dokuru DR, Horwitz TB, Freis SM, Stallings MC, Ehringer MA. South Asia: The Missing Diverse in Diversity. Behav Genet 2024; 54:51-62. [PMID: 37917228 PMCID: PMC11129896 DOI: 10.1007/s10519-023-10161-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
South Asia, making up around 25% of the world's population, encompasses a wide range of individuals with tremendous genetic and environmental diversity. This region, which spans eight countries, is home to over 4500 anthropologically defined groups that speak numerous languages and have an array of religious beliefs and cultures, making it one of the most diverse places in the world. Much of the region's rich genetic diversity and structure is the result of a complex combination of population history, migration patterns, and endogamous practices. Despite the overwhelming size and diversity, South Asians have often been underrepresented in genetic research, making up less than 2% of the participants in genetic studies. This has led to a lack of population specific understanding of genetic disease risks. We aim to raise awareness about underlying genetic diversity in this ancestry group, call attention to the lack of representation of the group, and to highlight strategies for future studies in South Asians.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deepika R Dokuru
- Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, 1480 30 St, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA.
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
| | - Tanya B Horwitz
- Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, 1480 30 St, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Samantha M Freis
- Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, 1480 30 St, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Michael C Stallings
- Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, 1480 30 St, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Marissa A Ehringer
- Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, 1480 30 St, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
- Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
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Ahlawat B, Kumar L, Cherian PJ, Sehrawat JS, Rai N, Thangaraj K. Deciphering the West Eurasian Genetic Footprints in Ancient South India. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:genes14050963. [PMID: 37239323 DOI: 10.3390/genes14050963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2023] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Since 2006, Pattanam coastal village of the Ernakulam District in Kerala, India, has witnessed multi-disciplinary archaeological investigations in collaboration with leading research institutions across the world. The results confirm that the Pattanam site could be an integral part of the lost ancient port of Muziris, which, as per the material evidence from Pattanam and its contemporary sites, played an important role in the transoceanic exchanges between 100 BCE (Before Common Era) and 300 CE (Common Era). So far, the material evidence with direct provenance to the maritime exchanges related to ancient cultures of the Mediterranean, West Asian, Red Sea, African, and Asian regions have been identified at Pattanam. However, the genetic evidence supporting the impact of multiple cultures or their admixing is still missing for this important archaeological site of South India. Hence, in the current study, we tried to infer the genetic composition of the skeletal remains excavated from the site in a broader context of South Asian and worldwide maternal affinity. We applied the MassArray-based genotyping approach of mitochondrial makers and observed that ancient samples of Pattanam represent a mixed maternal ancestry pattern of both the West Eurasian ancestry and the South Asian ancestry. We observed a high frequency of West Eurasian haplogroups (T, JT, and HV) and South Asian-specific mitochondrial haplogroups (M2a, M3a, R5, and M6). The findings are consistent with the previously published and ongoing archaeological excavations, in which material remains from over three dozen of sites across the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and Mediterranean littoral regions have been unearthed. This study confirms that people belonging to multiple cultural and linguistic backgrounds have migrated, probably settled, and eventually died on the South-western coast of India.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bhavna Ahlawat
- Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India
- Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226007, India
| | - Lomous Kumar
- Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226007, India
- CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500007, India
| | - Parayil John Cherian
- PAMA Institute for the Advancement of Transdisciplinary Archaeological Sciences, Pattanam Archaeological Site, Ernakulam 683522, India
- Kerala Council for Historical Research & Director Pattanam Excavations, Thiruvananthapuram 695003, India
| | | | - Niraj Rai
- Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226007, India
| | - Kumarasamy Thangaraj
- CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500007, India
- Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Uppal, Hyderabad 500007, India
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Mendes M, Jonnalagadda M, Ozarkar S, Lima Torres FC, Borda Pua V, Kendall C, Tarazona-Santos E, Parra EJ. Identifying signatures of natural selection in Indian populations. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0271767. [PMID: 35925921 PMCID: PMC9352006 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we present the results of a genome-wide scan for signatures of positive selection using data from four tribal groups (Kokana, Warli, Bhil, and Pawara) and two caste groups (Deshastha Brahmin and Kunbi Maratha) from West of the Maharashtra State In India, as well as two samples of South Asian ancestry from the 1KG project (Gujarati Indian from Houston, Texas and Indian Telugu from UK). We used an outlier approach based on different statistics, including PBS, xpEHH, iHS, CLR, Tajima’s D, as well as two recently developed methods: Graph-aware Retrieval of Selective Sweeps (GRoSS) and Ascertained Sequentially Markovian Coalescent (ASMC). In order to minimize the risk of false positives, we selected regions that are outliers in all the samples included in the study using more than one method. We identified putative selection signals in 107 regions encompassing 434 genes. Many of the regions overlap with only one gene. The signals observed using microarray-based data are very consistent with our analyses using high-coverage sequencing data, as well as those identified with a novel coalescence-based method (ASMC). Importantly, at least 24 of these genomic regions have been identified in previous selection scans in South Asian populations or in other population groups. Our study highlights genomic regions that may have played a role in the adaptation of anatomically modern humans to novel environmental conditions after the out of Africa migration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marla Mendes
- Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto—Mississauga Campus, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Manjari Jonnalagadda
- Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (SSLA), Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune, India
| | - Shantanu Ozarkar
- Department of Anthropology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India
| | - Flávia Carolina Lima Torres
- Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - Victor Borda Pua
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States of America
| | - Christopher Kendall
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto—Mississauga Campus, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Eduardo Tarazona-Santos
- Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - Esteban J. Parra
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto—Mississauga Campus, Mississauga, ON, Canada
- * E-mail:
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Naz S. Molecular genetic landscape of hereditary hearing loss in Pakistan. Hum Genet 2021; 141:633-648. [PMID: 34308486 DOI: 10.1007/s00439-021-02320-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Approximately 14.5 million Pakistani individuals have a hearing loss and half of these cases may be due to genetic causes. Though significant progress has been made in uncovering genetic variants for recessively inherited nonsyndromic deafness, Pendred syndrome, and Usher syndromes, the same is not true for dominantly inherited hearing loss, most syndromic cases and deafness with complex inheritance patterns. Variants of 57 genes have been reported to cause nonsyndromic recessive deafness in Pakistan, though most are rare. Variants of just five genes GJB2, HGF, MYO7A, SLC26A4, and TMC1 together explain 57% of profound deafness while those of GJB2, MYO15A, OTOF, SLC26A4, TMC1, and TMPRSS3 account for 47% of moderate to severe hearing loss. In contrast, although variants of at least 39 genes have been implicated in different deafness syndromes, their prevalence in the population and the spectrum of mutations have not been explored. Furthermore, research on genetics of deafness has mostly focused on individuals from the Punjab province and needs to be extended to other regions of Pakistan. Identifying the genes and their variants causing deafness in all ethnic groups is important as it will pinpoint rare as well as recurrent mutations. This information may ultimately help in offering genetic counseling and future treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sadaf Naz
- School of Biological Sciences, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan.
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The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 does not show any association among South Asian populations. Sci Rep 2021; 11:12346. [PMID: 34117310 PMCID: PMC8196069 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91711-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
With the growing evidence on the variable human susceptibility against COVID-19, it is evident that some genetic loci modulate the severity of the infection. Recent studies have identified several loci associated with greater severity. More recently, a study has identified a 50 kb genomic segment introgressed from Neanderthal adding a risk for COVID-19, and this genomic segment is present among 16% and 50% people of European and South Asian descent, respectively. Our studies on ACE2 identified a haplotype present among 20% and 60% of European and South Asian populations, respectively, which appears to be responsible for the low case fatality rate among South Asian populations. This result was also consistent with the real-time infection rate and case fatality rate among various states of India. We readdressed this issue using both of the contrasting datasets and compared them with the real-time infection rates and case fatality rate in India. We found that the polymorphism present in the 50 kb introgressed genomic segment (rs10490770) did not show any significant correlation with the infection and case fatality rate in India.
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Kumawat R, Shrivastava P, Shrivastava D, Mathur G, Dash HR, Chaubey G. Peopling of Rajasthan, India: Evaluating the gene flow from east and west. GENE REPORTS 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.genrep.2020.100990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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Chaubey G, van Driem G. Munda languages are father tongues, but Japanese and Korean are not. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2020; 2:e19. [PMID: 37588351 PMCID: PMC10427457 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Over two decades ago, it was observed that the linguistic affinity of the language spoken by a particular population tended to correlate with the predominant paternal, i.e. Y-chromosomal, lineage found in that population. Such correlations were found to be ubiquitous but not universal, and the striking exceptions to such conspicuous patterns of correlation between linguistic and genetic phylogeography elicit particular interest and beg for clarification. Within the Austroasiatic language family, the Munda languages are a clear-cut case of father tongues, whereas Japanese and Korean are manifestly not. In this study, the cases of Munda and Japanese are juxtaposed. A holistic understanding of these contrasting cases of ethnolinguistic prehistory with respect to the father tongue correlation will first necessitate a brief exposition of the phylogeography of the Y chromosomal lineage O. Then triangulation discloses some contours and particulars of both long lost episodes of ethnolinguistic prehistory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gyaneshwer Chaubey
- Department of Zoology, Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh221005, India
| | - George van Driem
- Linguistics Institute, University of Bern, Länggassstrasse 49, CH 3012Bern, Switzerland
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