Journal Article Epublish 4 citations
PubMed: 41619049 DOI: 10.1007/s00438-026-02358-7
Northeast india: genetic inconsistency across ethnicity and geography.
Mol Genet Genomics 301(1):31
Authors: Biswabandhu Bankura, Bishnupriya Basak, Prajjval Pratap Singh, Albert Vanlalruata, Arindam Chatterjee, Srilagna Chatterjee, Rakesh Tamang, Manjil Hazarika, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Madhusudan Das
Affiliations
- Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700019, India.
- Multidisciplinary Research Unit, Medical College Kolkata, Kolkata, India.
- Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India.
- Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
- Archaeology Wing, Art & Culture Department, Govt. of Mizoram, Aizawl, India.
- School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, Krea University, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, India.
- Department of Archaeology, Cotton University, Guwahati, Assam, India.
- Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700019, India.
Abstract
North East India served as a crucial route for the movement of modern humans, connecting the Indian subcontinent with East and Southeast Asia due to its strategic location near the Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal. Archaeological and anthropological research indicates migration and cultural exchange in this region, along with the Tibetan plateau to the north. To understand the complex genetic patterns here, we conducted a detailed analysis of the Mizo population and its various clans in North-East India, a unique and independent group for which genomic historical records are currently unavailable. We examined 110 individuals from seven different Mizo clans using one hundred thousand autosomal markers (Sequence data accession number EGAS00001008205). Our haplotype-based analysis revealed that the Mizo people belong to the same clade as the Trans-Himalayan group, suggesting a common origin from a shared ancestral population. Additionally, our study identified seven genetic clusters among the Mizo clans, with many clans spanning more than one cluster; notably, a distinct population structure was evident even across small geographical distances. The results also show that the Mizo genetic profile differs from that of East and Southeast Asian populations. Allelic frequency-based analyses indicated that a novel Trans-Himalayan ancestry unites all the populations of this region. The findings suggest a complex genetic structure in North-East India, which contrasts sharply with the genetic landscape observed in East and South-East Asia. Therefore, we conclude that the interplay of language, ethnicity, and geography shapes the genetic makeup of the Mizo population and its clans.
MeSH
Molecular Biology, Geography