Majority of South Asians Have Indian Ancestry

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 00:37 IST
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Majority of South Asians Have Indian Ancestry

Bangalore: More than 50 percent of the South Asian populations have Indian ancestry, reveals a new study conducted by scientists of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in association with University of Tartu, Estonia; the Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Chennai and Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, which has been published in the prestigious American Journal of Human Genetics.

The study, led by Dr. Kumarasamy Thangaraj of CCMB, reveals that South Asia have two most important ancestry components, one is the South and West Asia, this genetically diversified population is spread vastly and another ancestry component which is more limited to South Asia.

The dominating and genetically verified ancestry component in South Asia, demonstrate much greater genetic diversity than those that predominate in West Eurasia. The genetic affinities of both the ancestry components are incompatible with substantial gene flow into the region during Max Mueller’s purported Indo-Aryan invasion 3,500 years ago.