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Indian population originated in three migration waves.

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prasad1

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The Indian population originated from three separate waves of migration from Africa, Iran and Central Asia over a period of 50,000 years, scientists have found using genetic evidence from people alive in the subcontinent today.

The Indian Subcontinent harbours hugegenetic diversity, in addition to its vast patchwork of languages, cultures and religions.
Researchers at the University of Huddersfield in the UK found that some genetic lineages in South Asia are very ancient.

The
earliest populations were hunter-gatherers who arrived from Africa, where modern humans arose, more than 50,000 years ago.

However, furtherwaves of settlement came from the direction of Iran, after the last Ice Age ended 10-20,000 years ago, and with the spread of early farming.
These ancient signatures are most clearly seen in the mitochondrial DNA, which tracks the female line of descent.

However, Y-chromosome variation, which tracks the male line, is very different, according to the study published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. "Here the major signatures are much more recent. Most controversially, there is a strong signal of immigration from Central Asia, less than 5,000 years ago," said Marina Silva, co-author of the study.

"This looks like a sign of the arrival of the first Indo- European speakers, who arose amongst the Bronze Age peoples of the grasslands north of the Caucasus, between the Black and Caspian Seas," Silva said.

They were male-dominated, mobile pastoralists who had domesticated the horse - and spoke what ultimately became Sanskrit, the language of classical Hinduism - which more than 200 years ago linguists showed is ultimately related to classical Greek and Latin, the study found.Migrations from the same source also shaped the settlement of Europe and its languages, and this has been the subject of most recent research.

The origin of the Indian population is an area of huge controversy among scholars and scientists. A problem confronting archaeogenetic research into the origins of Indian populations is that there is a dearth of sources, such as preserved skeletal remains that can provide ancient DNA samples.

In the latest study, researchers used genetic evidence from people alive in the subcontinent today.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/indian-population-originated-in-three-migration-waves-study/articleshow/58624423.cms

I am going to miss Vganeji in this thread. LOL
 
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For ten years, Genographic Project scientists have explored and explained how patterns in our DNA show evidence of migration and expansion routes of our ancient ancestors across the globe. DNA has shown that genetically modern humans arose in Africa some 150,000 years ago, and around 60,000 years ago left Africa and went east into Asia, north into Europe, and south into Australia. But new research from Genographic Project scientists in India shows that eventually some of them also moved back west, and brought their language with them.

Genographic Project scientists Drs. Ramasamy Pitchappan and GaneshPrasad ArunKumar from Tamil Nadu, India, analyzed the Y-chromosome (paternally-inherited) DNA from more than 10,000 men from southern Asia. The findings, published in the Journal of Systematics and Evolution, showed that in the last 8,000 years humans expanded west from Southeast Asia back to India.

This previously undetected migration is evident from the frequency and diversity of a specific genetic clan, or haplogroup, in that part of the world. The Genographic scientists found a much higher frequency of haplogroup O2a1 in their research than expected. “Since O2a1 is accepted as the founding lineage of Austro-Asiatic languages (a group of related languages from Southeast Asia), the origin and spread of this lineage gives clues on the history of these speakers and the region. Our study shows a clear decrease in age and diversity of haplogorup O2a1 from Laos to East India, suggesting an east to west spread out of Southeast Asia,” explains Dr. ArunKumar about his findings.

But why did they focus on just one haplogroup, when there are hundreds of distinct haplogroups in Asia? “The Y chromosomal haplogroup O2a1 accounts for almost 15 percent of Indian male lineages and 58 percent of male lineages from Southeast Asia, and the distribution of this haplogroup matches the distribution of Austro-Asiatic languages (i.e. Vietnamese, Cambodian, Munda, and Nicobarese), and some of these Austro-Asiatic speaking populations are 100-percent haplogroup O2a1,” adds Dr. ArunKumar.

“Thus understanding the distribution of O2a1 sheds light on the origin and movement of people in that part of the world.”Previous Genographic Project studies have also shown strong correlations between language and frequency of a certain haplogroup. Examples include the relationship between Indo-European languages and paternal haplogroup R1, and Austronesian languages and mitochondrial DNA (maternal) haplogroup B4. In each case, language similarities paralleled genetic similarities.

So, does this mean that the language you speak is ingrained in your DNA? Well no, but even though language is learned (nurture) and DNA is inherited (nature), the two are undoubtedly interconnected and, as we have shown, correlated.
Learn more about this and other Genographic Project research and what haplogroups our scientists are currently studying at genographic.com.

http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/21/genographic-southeast-asia/
 
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