Y-chromosome haplogroup diversity in the sub-Himalayan Terai and Duars populations of East India

Abstract

The sub-Himalayan Terai and Duars, the important outermost zones comprising the plains of East India, are known as the reservoirs of ethnic diversity. Analysis of the paternal genetic diversity of the populations inhabiting these regions and their genetic relationships with adjacent Himalayan and other Asian populations has not been addressed empirically. In the present investigation, we undertook a Y-chromosome phylogeographic study on 10 populations (n¼375) representing four different linguistic groups from the sub-Himalayan Terai and Duars regions of East India. The high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome haplogroup variations based on 76 binary markers revealed that the sub-Himalayan paternal gene pool is extremely heterogeneous. Three major haplogroups, namely H, O and R, are shared across the four linguistic groups. The Indo-European-speaking castes exhibit more haplogroup diversity than the tribal groups. The findings of the present investigation suggest that the sub-Himalayan gene pools have received predominant Southeast Asian contribution. In addition, the presence of Northeast and South Asian signatures illustrate multiple events of population migrations as well as extensive genetic admixture amongst the linguistic groups.

A calibrated human Y-chromosomal phylogeny based on resequencing

“…We identified 631 variable sites mapping within the 8.97-Mb region that had been described in the literature and placed on the 2008 Y Chromosome Consortium phylogenetic tree (Karafet et al 2008) and its subsequent partial updates (Cruciani et al 2008Chiaroni et al 2009;Sims et al 2009;Trombetta et al 2010Trombetta et al , 2011Debnath et al 2011;Jota et al 2011;Mendez et al 2011). These were used for assigning a standard haplogroup to each sample and in validation.…”

Unity in diversity: an overview of the genomic anthropology of India

“…A large number of research papers have documented mtDNA and Y-chromosome variation among Indian populations (Bamshad et al 2001;Kivisild et al 1999Kivisild et al , 2003Corduex et al 2003;Basu et al 2003;Palanichamy et al 2004;Sengupta et al 2006;Sahoo et al 2006;Gutala et al 2006;Thanseem et al 2006;Zerjal et al 2007 ;Thangaraj et al 2006a, b;Sengupta et al 2006;Chaubey et al 2008;Mittal el al. 2008;Eaaswarkhanth et al 2010;Chaubey et al 2011;Debnath et al 2011;Wang et al 2011;Rai et al 2012;Chaubey et al 2014). Barnabas et al (1996) was one of the earliest studies, using low resolution mtDNA analysis among linguistically different Indian populations to document a high level of nucleotide diversity among Indians.…”

Male lineages in the Himalayan foothills: A commentary on Y-chromosome haplogroup diversity in the sub-Himalayan Terai and Duars populations of East India

“…Continuing with this trend in the previous issue of this journal Debnath et al 1 examines the Y chromosomal variation in 375 male individuals belonging to 10 subHimalayan Indian populations and compare them with existing data sets.…”