Abstract
BackgroundThe central Indian state Madhya Pradesh is often called as ‘heart of India’ and has always been an important region functioning as a trinexus belt for three major language families (Indo-European, Dravidian and Austroasiatic). There are less detailed genetic studies on the populations inhabited in this region. Therefore, this study is an attempt for extensive characterization of genetic ancestries of three tribal populations, namely; Bharia, Bhil and Sahariya, inhabiting this region using haploid and diploid DNA markers.Methodology/Principal FindingsMitochondrial DNA analysis showed high diversity, including some of the older sublineages of M haplogroup and prominent R lineages in all the three tribes. Y-chromosomal biallelic markers revealed high frequency of Austroasiatic-specific M95-O2a haplogroup in Bharia and Sahariya, M82-H1a in Bhil and M17-R1a in Bhil and Sahariya. The results obtained by haploid as well as diploid genetic markers revealed strong genetic affinity of Bharia (a Dravidian speaking tribe) with the Austroasiatic (Munda) group. The gene flow from Austroasiatic group is further confirmed by their Y-STRs haplotype sharing analysis, where we determined their founder haplotype from the North Munda speaking tribe, while, autosomal analysis was largely in concordant with the haploid DNA results.Conclusions/SignificanceBhil exhibited largely Indo-European specific ancestry, while Sahariya and Bharia showed admixed genetic package of Indo-European and Austroasiatic populations. Hence, in a landscape like India, linguistic label doesn't unequivocally follow the genetic footprints.
Highlights
Indian populations are known for their unique cultural and linguistic diversity [1]
The frequency of haplogroup M95-O2a, which is highly frequent among Austroasiatic speakers [7,13], was high among Bharia and Sahariya tribes (Fig. 2)
The occurrence of haplogroups M17-R1a and M124-R2 was highest in Sahariya tribe, followed by Bhil and Bharia (Fig. 2)
Summary
Indian populations are known for their unique cultural and linguistic diversity [1]. Broadly, Indian population can be categorized as the castes, tribes and religious communities. Bharia (Dravidian), Bhil (Indo-European) and Sahariya (IndoEuropean) of Madhya-Pradesh state (Fig. 1 and Table S1) using haploid (Y-chromosomal and Mitochondrial DNA markers) and diploid (50 ancestry informative autosomal SNP) genetic markers. 16 Y-chromosomal biallelic markers and observed 13 haplogroups in the studied populations (Fig. 2).
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