Shared and unique components of human population structure and genome-wide signals of positive selection in South Asia.

ABSTRACT: South Asia harbors one of the highest levels genetic diversity in Eurasia, which could be interpreted as a result of its long-term large effective population size and of admixture during its complex demographic history. In contrast to Pakistani populations, populations of Indian origin have been underrepresented in previous genomic scans of positive selection and population structure. Here we report data for more than 600,000 SNP markers genotyped in 142 samples from 30 ethnic groups in India. Combining our results with other available genome-wide data, we show that Indian populations are characterized by two major ancestry components, one of which is spread at comparable frequency and haplotype diversity in populations of South and West Asia and the Caucasus. The second component is more

SUBMITTER: Metspalu M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3234374 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature