Indian Siddis: African Descendants with Indian Admixture

Shah, Anish; Tamang, Rakesh; Moorjani, Priya; Rani, Deepa Selvi; Govindaraj, Periyasamy; Kulkarni, Gururaj D; Bhattacharya, Tanmoy; Mustak, Mohammed S.; Lakkakula, Bhaskar Vks; Reddy, A. Srinivas; Gadhvi, Dharmendra; Gai, Pramod B; Chaubey, Gyaneshwer; Patterson, Nick; Reich, David; Tyler‐Smith, Chris; Singh, Lalji; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy

doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.05.030

Cited by 52 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Our estimation is concordant with that proposed previously using the less accurate ROLLOFF method (Shah et al 2011) and is in close correspondence with ethnohistorical evidences of ancestral Bantu speaking Siddi groups being imported to India as slaves during the 16th and 17th centuries, by the Portuguese (Bhattacharya 1970; Nevet 1981). …”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

Unraveling the Population History of Indian Siddis

Das

Upadhyai

2017

Genome Biology and Evolution

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The Siddis are a unique Indian tribe of African, South Asian, and European ancestry. While previous investigations have traced their ancestral origins to the Bantu populations from subSaharan Africa, the geographic localization of their ancestry has remained elusive. Here, we performed biogeographical analysis to delineate the ancestral origin of the Siddis employing an admixture based algorithm, Geographical Population Structure (GPS). We evaluated the Siddi genomes in reference to five African populations from the 1000 Genomes project, two Bantu groups from the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP) and five South Indian populations. The Geographic Population Structure analysis localized the ancestral Siddis to Botsawana and its present-day northeastern border with Zimbabwe, overlapping with one of the principal areas of secondary Bantu settlement in southeast Africa. Our results further indicated that while the Siddi genomes are significantly diverged from that of the Bantus, they manifested the highest genomic proximity to the North-East Bantus and the Luhyas from Kenya. Our findings resonate with evidences supporting secondary Bantu dispersal routes that progressed southward from the east African Bantu center, in the interlacustrine region and likely brought the ancestral Siddis to settlement sites in south and southeastern Africa from where they were disseminated to India, by the Portuguese. We evaluated our results in the light of existing historical, linguistic and genetic evidences, to glean an improved resolution into the reconstruction of the distinctive population history of the Siddis, and advance our knowledge of the demographic factors that likely contributed to the contemporary Siddi genomes.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

Unraveling the Population History of Indian Siddis

Das

Upadhyai

2017

Genome Biology and Evolution

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“…Considering that the same pattern of higher RAFs was observed in Indians compared to non-Romani Europeans, it is tempting to speculate that these disparities in the prevalence of metabolic diseases in the Romani may be explained by 'thrifty' genetic variants [50] of Indian origin that are detrimental under a Western lifestyle. However, one needs to be cautious, as the bulk of heritability for these diseases remains undiscovered.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Implications of Population History of European Romani on Genetic Susceptibility to Disease

Mendizabal¹,

Lao²,

Marigorta³

et al. 2013

Hum Hered

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Objectives: The population history of European Romani is characterized by extensive bottleneck and admixture events, but the impact of this unique demographic history on the genetic risk for disease remains unresolved. Methods: Genome-wide SNP data on Romani, non-Romani Europeans and Indians were analyzed. The excess of homozygous variants in Romani genomes was assessed according to their potential functional effect. We also explored the frequencies of risk variants associated with five common diseases which are present at an increased prevalence in Romani compared to other Europeans. Results: Slightly deleterious variants are present at increased frequencies in European Romani, likely a result of relaxed purifying selection due to bottlenecks in their population history. The frequencies of SNPs associated with common metabolic and cardiovascular diseases are also increased compared to their European hosts. Conclusions: As observed in other founder populations, we confirm the impact of bottlenecks on the abundance of slightly deleterious variants in Romani groups, probably including metabolic and cardiovascular risk variants.

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“…The dissection of Indian Siddis' mtDNA revealed the presence of sublineages L2a and L0, similar to those of Bantu [7,8]. Furthermore, Y-chromosome studies revealed a high proportion of African-specific haplogroups [7,9]. Higher level of disparity was reported with respect to analogy between mtDNA and Y-chromosomal loci in Makrani population.…”

mentioning

confidence: 76%

“…They are partially descended from Bantu people from Southeast Africa who were brought to the Indian subcontinent mostly as slaves. The dissection of Indian Siddis' mtDNA revealed the presence of sublineages L2a and L0, similar to those of Bantu [7,8]. Furthermore, Y-chromosome studies revealed a high proportion of African-specific haplogroups [7,9].…”

mentioning

confidence: 89%