From matrimonial practices to genetic diversity in Southeast Asian populations: the signature of the matrilineal puzzle.

ABSTRACT: In matrilineal populations, the descent group affiliation is transmitted by women whereas the socio-political power frequently remains in the hands of men. This situation, named the 'matrilineal puzzle', is expected to promote local endogamy as a coping mechanism allowing men to maintain their decision-making power over their natal descent group. In this paper, we revisit this 'matrilineal puzzle' from a population genetics' point of view. Indeed, such tendency for local endogamy in matrilineal populations is expected to increase their genetic inbreeding and generate isolation-by-distance patterns between villages. To test this hypothesis, we collected ethno-demographic data for 3261 couples and high-density genetic data for 675 individuals from 11 Southeast Asian populations with a wide r

SUBMITTER: Ly G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6664126 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature