Changes to 1000 Genomes South Asians

Looks like there have been some changes to the populations in the 1000 Genomes:

At least we'll be able to answer questions about the origin of the Sinhalese soon enough. I'm a little bummed that the Indian populations in Maharashtra and West Bengal disappeared. Did the Permit Raj strike again?kahovka-service.ru

21 Comments.

  1. Wow, that .. sucks. We lost two of the most populous states in India?

  2. the indian government has a bad history of making it difficult for researchers to get samples. why do you think the south asians in the HGDP are from pakistan?

    • I read a rather preposterous suggestion regarding the Permit Raj in India and DNA samples a while ago, and I think it might hold some water to it - is the Indian government scared that academics will use the data extracted from the samples to add credence to the Aryan invasion/migration theory? Funnily enough, down south, Dravidian nationalists like M. Karunanidhi tended to use the AIT as part of their anti-Brahmin propaganda.

  3. Is there a way to find out what really happened and why these groups from India were dropped? I expect there is no way for anyone to volunteer? I am
    sure any number of Indians in the diaspora - at least the ones in HAP -
    would be willing.

    On a related note, I had asked Zack once about the absence of Veddas in his reference population - I think they would have been a good sample to have along with the Paniyas and the Onge. Other than the Sri Lankans in the UK I
    don't see any, unfortunately.

  4. Other than the Sri Lankans in the UK I
    don't see any, unfortunately.

    no different from south indians i think. you can tell my frequency of slc24a5.

  5. I got word that the original plan didn't materialize and the backup plan will be put into action. They still expect to have 500 samples from the original 5 populations. The project doesn't accept volunteers 🙁

    • "The project doesn't accept volunteers"

      Unfortunate indeed. Would you have any idea as to why they have a restriction on volunteers?

  6. The Sinhalese origin myth has them descending from Eastern Indians - Orissa, Bengal. If they cluster with Bongs, we'll know that's true :-). Prediction: somewhere between Bengalis and South Indians. What a blend that is! This will be very interesting.

    BTW is there a reason why Punjabis were not represented in the Pakistani sample which has become a proxy for all South Asians? Punjabis are more than 50% of that country's population for crying out loud.

    Vitasta, are you Kashmiri? If yes, are you on 23andme?

  7. BTW is there a reason why Punjabis were not represented in the Pakistani sample which has become a proxy for all South Asians? Punjabis are more than 50% of that country's population for crying out loud.

    you talking HGDP? the project was focused on minority/indigenous groups which distinctive history. e.g., kalash and burusho were included, punjabis were not.

    • This isn't true entirely , the sindhi and pathan are not minority groups but they do however present a good proxy for the north west south asians.
      Also, Punjabis are not a race by themselves though and anyhow we have the pakistanis from lahore to make up for it.

      • i agree. i was explaining why the burusho, kalash, and brahui were included. and the punjabis were not.

        • Muhammad Usman

          Punjabis were not included in Qamar et. al. paper because the authors rightly pointed out that ethnic identity in punjab is not strong and the people of punjab on pakistani side are quite often mixed with other ethnicities such as pathans and kashmiris in north and sindhi and balochi in the south punjab of pakistan.

        • Muhammad Usman

          Most of the punjabis living in Lahore are immigrants from indian side of punjab. The true pakistani punjabis are found further north and west of punjab.

  8. Razib, one question - how were Xing et al and Behar et al able to acquire the Indian samples (like TN Dalit, TN Brahmin; North Kannadi, Sakilli; etc.) if there is a Permit Raj?

  9. how were Xing et al and Behar et al able to acquire the Indian samples (like TN Dalit, TN Brahmin; North Kannadi, Sakilli; etc.) if there is a Permit Raj?

    it's not totally impossible 🙂 also seems to help to have local collaboration. if you have a long standing relationship you can continue to milk it. the xing et al. group had associations with the research group that's been doing stuff on andhra genetics back to the 1990s. from what i gather it is easier if you aren't ambitious.

    speaking of which, note the huge difference between china and india here. the chinese are pushing a lot forward with BGI, and there doesn't need to be a "han genomics projects," because the gov. is funding the research itself.

  10. As far as I know the highest frequency(72.22% out of 30) of R1a1a*(M458) is found in Bengali brahmins:-)