Abstract for presentation at 11th International Congress of Human Genetics

Genetic boundaries in the greater Himalayan region: the impact of geographical and linguistic barriers on the maternal and paternal gene pools

  • Denise Carvalho-Silva, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
  • Emma Parkin, Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
  • Thirsa Kraayenbrink, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
  • George van Driem, Himalayan Languages Project, Leiden University, The Netherlands
  • Nirmal Tuladhar, Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies of Tribhuvan University; Kirtipur, Nepal
  • Peter de Knijff, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
  • Mark Jobling, Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
  • Chris Tyler-Smith, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, United Kingdom, United Kingdom

    • The greater Himalayan region holds the most ethnically and linguistically diverse human populations in Eurasia, and contains the highest geographic barrier on Earth. Most language communities in the Himalayas belong either to the Tibeto Burman (T-B) or Indo European (I-E) language family. Archaeology and linguistics suggest that T-B speakers moved out of China into the Himalayan region several thousands of years ago, whereas I-E speakers came from North India more recently (but still a few thousand years ago). Did languages and genes co-disperse? If so, what pattern is found at the boundary between the two dispersals? Can we determine whether geography or language had the greater impact on the distribution of genes in the region? We have collected DNA samples from >2,000 individuals from 12 and 19 distinct ethno-linguistic groups of both Nepal and Bhutan. Here we present data on 20 Y chromosome biallelic markers and on control region sequence of the mtDNA genome and compare our results to published data from >2,300 individuals from the Caucasus, Central Asia, Pakistan, India and East Asia who speak either T-B or I-E languages. We found for both the Y and mtDNA that the I-E-speaking Himalayans are more closely related to I-E speakers in other regions of the world, whereas the T-B speakers in Nepal and Bhutan are closer to T-B speakers in China. These results seem to point to a movement of genes along with the T-B and I-E speakers to the Himalayas. Surprisingly, Nepal and Bhutan revealed much greater genetic diversity than their larger neighbouring countries, China and India, perhaps reflecting more genetic drift in smaller populations. We find zones of sharp haplogroup frequency change suggesting the presence of genetic boundaries. We are now comparing these genetic boundaries with the linguistic and geographical patterns in the area.

    Conference Organiser - ICMS Pty Ltd