1. Unravelling the distinct strains of Tharu ancestry
- Author
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Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Pavan Kumar Dubey, Jüri Parik, Blaise Li, Veena Pande, Rakesh Tamang, Federica Crivellaro, Abhilasha Verma, Siiri Rootsi, Lalji Singh, Anand Phillip, Satti Vishnupriya, Varun Sharma, Mait Metspalu, Erik Prank, Monika Karmin, Akhilesh Kumar Chaubey, Anish M. Shah, Vishwas Sharma, Toomas Kivisild, Anne-Mai Ilumäe, Marta Mirazón Lahr, Ajai Kumar Pathak, Deepa Selvi Rani, Alena Kushniarevich, Kumpati Premkumar, Manvendra K. Singh, Amrita Nandan, Periyasamy Govindaraj, Kamayani Singh, Alla G. Reddy, Phillip Endicott, Vijay Kumar Singh, Richard Villems, Niraj Rai, George van Driem, Vipin Kumar Singh, and Gyaneshwer Chaubey
- Subjects
Genotyping Techniques ,Genetic genealogy ,Population ,Ethnic group ,India ,DNA, Mitochondrial ,Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ,Article ,Haplogroup ,Asian People ,Nepal ,Genetic variation ,Ethnicity ,Genetics ,Humans ,education ,Genetic Association Studies ,Genetics (clinical) ,education.field_of_study ,Chromosomes, Human, Y ,Haplotype ,Genetic Variation ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,Phylogeography ,Geography ,Haplotypes ,Evolutionary biology ,Gene pool - Abstract
The northern region of the Indian subcontinent is a vast landscape interlaced by diverse ecologies, for example, the Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas. A great number of ethnic groups are found there, displaying a multitude of languages and cultures. The Tharu is one of the largest and most linguistically diverse of such groups, scattered across the Tarai region of Nepal and bordering Indian states. Their origins are uncertain. Hypotheses have been advanced postulating shared ancestry with Austroasiatic, or Tibeto-Burman-speaking populations as well as aboriginal roots in the Tarai. Several Tharu groups speak a variety of Indo-Aryan languages, but have traditionally been described by ethnographers as representing East Asian phenotype. Their ancestry and intra-population diversity has previously been tested only for haploid (mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome) markers in a small portion of the population. This study presents the first systematic genetic survey of the Tharu from both Nepal and two Indian states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, using genome-wide SNPs and haploid markers. We show that the Tharu have dual genetic ancestry as up to one-half of their gene pool is of East Asian origin. Within the South Asian proportion of the Tharu genetic ancestry, we see vestiges of their common origin in the north of the South Asian Subcontinent manifested by mitochondrial DNA haplogroup M43.
- Published
- 2014
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