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Reconstructing the population history of the Sinhalese, the major ethnic group in Sri Lanka.


ABSTRACT: The Sinhalese are the major ethnic group in Śrī Laṅkā, inhabiting nearly the whole length and breadth of the island. They speak an Indo-European language of the Indo-Iranian branch, which is held to originate in northwestern India, going back to at least the fifth century BC. Previous genetic studies on low-resolution markers failed to infer the genomic history of the Sinhalese population. Therefore, we have performed a high-resolution fine-grained genetic study of the Sinhalese population and, in the broader context, we attempted to reconstruct the genetic history of Śrī Laṅkā. Our allele-frequency-based analysis showed a tight cluster of Sinhalese and Tamil populations, suggesting strong gene flow beyond the boundary of ethnicity and language. Interestingly, the haplotype-based analysis preserved a trace of the North Indian affiliation to the Sinhalese population. Overall, in the South Asian context, Śrī Laṅkān ethnic groups are genetically more homogeneous than others.

SUBMITTER: Singh PP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10514440 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Reconstructing the population history of the Sinhalese, the major ethnic group in Śrī Laṅkā.

Singh Prajjval Pratap PP   Kumar Sachin S   Pasupuleti Nagarjuna N   Weerasooriya P R PR   van Driem George G   Tennekoon Kamani H KH   Rai Niraj N   Chaubey Gyaneshwer G   Ranasinghe R R  

iScience 20230901 10


The Sinhalese are the major ethnic group in Śrī Laṅkā, inhabiting nearly the whole length and breadth of the island. They speak an Indo-European language of the Indo-Iranian branch, which is held to originate in northwestern India, going back to at least the fifth century BC. Previous genetic studies on low-resolution markers failed to infer the genomic history of the Sinhalese population. Therefore, we have performed a high-resolution fine-grained genetic study of the Sinhalese population and,  ...[more]

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