Abstract
BackgroundThe Parsis are one of the smallest religious communities in the world. To understand the population structure and demographic history of this group in detail, we analyzed Indian and Pakistani Parsi populations using high-resolution genetic variation data on autosomal and uniparental loci (Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA). Additionally, we also assayed mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms among ancient Parsi DNA samples excavated from Sanjan, in present day Gujarat, the place of their original settlement in India.ResultsAmong present-day populations, the Parsis are genetically closest to Iranian and the Caucasus populations rather than their South Asian neighbors. They also share the highest number of haplotypes with present-day Iranians and we estimate that the admixture of the Parsis with Indian populations occurred ~1,200 years ago. Enriched homozygosity in the Parsi reflects their recent isolation and inbreeding. We also observed 48% South-Asian-specific mitochondrial lineages among the ancient samples, which might have resulted from the assimilation of local females during the initial settlement. Finally, we show that Parsis are genetically closer to Neolithic Iranians than to modern Iranians, who have witnessed a more recent wave of admixture from the Near East.ConclusionsOur results are consistent with the historically-recorded migration of the Parsi populations to South Asia in the 7th century and in agreement with their assimilation into the Indian sub-continent's population and cultural milieu "like sugar in milk". Moreover, in a wider context our results support a major demographic transition in West Asia due to the Islamic conquest.
Highlights
The Parsis are one of the smallest religious communities in the world
We applied the default settings of the SMARTPCA program implemented in the EIGENSOFT package [30] and performed principal-components analysis (PCA) with other Eurasian populations using autosomal singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) data (Additional file 1: Table S2 and supplementary text)
A plot of the population-wise mean of the eigenvalues showed their placement between the Pakistani and Iranian populations, indicating that the Parsis might have admixed from these two groups
Summary
The Parsis are one of the smallest religious communities in the world. To understand the population structure and demographic history of this group in detail, we analyzed Indian and Pakistani Parsi populations using high-resolution genetic variation data on autosomal and uniparental loci (Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA). The Parsi (or Parsee) community of the Indian subcontinent are a group of Indo-European speakers and adherents of the Zoroastrian faith, one of the earliest monotheisms that flourished in pre-Islamic Persia (present-day Iran) [1, 2]. The most popular one mentioned in the Qissa-e-Sanjaan is that an Indian ruler called Jadi Rana sent a glass full of milk to the Parsi group seeking asylum [4, 18]. His message was that his kingdom was full with local people. In contemporary India and Pakistan, we see their adoption of local languages (Gujarati and Sindhi) and economic integration while maintaining their ethnic identity and practicing strict endogamy [1, 3, 4, 12, 19,20,21]
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.