Ancient Human Migrations to and through Jammu Kashmir- India were not of Males Exclusively

Indu Sharma,Swarkar Sharma,Varun Sharma,Akbar Khan,Miguel Vilar,Ekta Rai,Parvinder Kumar,Rameshwar N K Bamezai

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-18893-8

Abstract

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the Northern most State of India, has been under-represented or altogether absent in most of the phylogenetic studies carried out in literature, despite its strategic location in the Himalayan region. Nonetheless, this region may have acted as a corridor to various migrations to and from mainland India, Eurasia or northeast Asia. The belief goes that most of the migrations post-late-Pleistocene were mainly male dominated, primarily associated with population invasions, where female migration may thus have been limited. To evaluate female-centered migration patterns in the region, we sequenced 83 complete mitochondrial genomes of unrelated individuals belonging to different ethnic groups from the state. We observed a high diversity in the studied maternal lineages, identifying 19 new maternal sub-haplogroups (HGs). High maternal diversity and our phylogenetic analyses suggest that the migrations post-Pleistocene were not strictly paternal, as described in the literature. These preliminary observations highlight the need to carry out an extensive study of the endogamous populations of the region to unravel many facts and find links in the peopling of India.

Highlights

India has served as a major corridor for modern human migration and was amongst the first regions of the world populated by humans once they left Africa[1,2]
The question remains how did these historical events of acculturation impact the gene pool of the region? Several studies have been carried out targeting Indian populations[16,17,18], the region of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has always been mostly excluded or restricted by limited sampling, remaining most under studied
In order to address the compelling question as to whether, the maternal gene pool of J&K was conserved across millennia, as expected from other phylogenetic studies of Indian populations, we targeted the mitogenomes, the strongest genetic tool for tracing direct maternal inheritance[19], of 83 individuals belonging to different ethnic groups across Jammu and Kashmir

Summary

Introduction

India has served as a major corridor for modern human migration and was amongst the first regions of the world populated by humans once they left Africa[1,2]. It is a land with extensive human diversity[3] which has witnessed many prehistoric and historic migrations and invasions across the ages due to its geographical location and natural bounty. The state is divided into three sub-regions (Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh), which are geographically isolated This region has been suggested to have served as a corridor for various migrations and immigrations in the mainland India and Eurasia[11]. We emphasize that this region must be targeted as a whole, to understand the genetic context of Indian populations and its connection to the greater Eurasian continent

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion