The phylogeography of Y-chromosome haplogroup h1a1a-m82 reveals the likely Indian origin of the European Romani populations

Linguistic and genetic studies on Roma populations inhabited in Europe have unequivocally traced these populations to the Indian subcontinent. However, the exact parental population group and time of the out-of-India dispersal have remained disputed. In the absence of archaeological records and with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-11, Vol.7 (11), p.e48477-e48477
Main Authors: Rai, Niraj, Chaubey, Gyaneshwer, Tamang, Rakesh, Pathak, Ajai Kumar, Singh, Vipin Kumar, Karmin, Monika, Singh, Manvendra, Rani, Deepa Selvi, Anugula, Sharath, Yadav, Brijesh Kumar, Singh, Ashish, Srinivasagan, Ramkumar, Yadav, Anita, Kashyap, Manju, Narvariya, Sapna, Reddy, Alla G, van Driem, George, Underhill, Peter A, Villems, Richard, Kivisild, Toomas, Singh, Lalji, Thangaraj, Kumarasamy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Asia
Biology
Business expansion
Byzantine civilization
Chromosomes
Chromosomes, Human, Y
Comparative analysis
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Dispersal
DNA
DNA, Mitochondrial
Ethnic Groups - genetics
Europe
European Continental Ancestry Group - genetics
Evolutionary biology
Genetic markers
Genetic research
Haplotypes
Humans
Linguistics
Microsatellite Repeats
Mitochondrial DNA
Molecular biology
Mutation
Parenting
Phylogeny
Phylogeography
Population genetics
Population studies
Populations
Romanies
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Y chromosomes
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Summary:Linguistic and genetic studies on Roma populations inhabited in Europe have unequivocally traced these populations to the Indian subcontinent. However, the exact parental population group and time of the out-of-India dispersal have remained disputed. In the absence of archaeological records and with only scanty historical documentation of the Roma, comparative linguistic studies were the first to identify their Indian origin. Recently, molecular studies on the basis of disease-causing mutations and haploid DNA markers (i.e. mtDNA and Y-chromosome) supported the linguistic view. The presence of Indian-specific Y-chromosome haplogroup H1a1a-M82 and mtDNA haplogroups M5a1, M18 and M35b among Roma has corroborated that their South Asian origins and later admixture with Near Eastern and European populations. However, previous studies have left unanswered questions about the exact parental population groups in South Asia. Here we present a detailed phylogeographical study of Y-chromosomal haplogroup H1a1a-M82 in a data set of more than 10,000 global samples to discern a more precise ancestral source of European Romani populations. The phylogeographical patterns and diversity estimates indicate an early origin of this haplogroup in the Indian subcontinent and its further expansion to other regions. Tellingly, the short tandem repeat (STR) based network of H1a1a-M82 lineages displayed the closest connection of Romani haplotypes with the traditional scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population groups of northwestern India.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0048477