Genetic Evolution in South Indian Caste Populations

南印度种姓人群的遗传进化

• 批准号: 9514733
• 负责人: Lynn Jorde
• 金额: $ 30.88万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-03-01 至 2000-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9514733&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Genetic; Evolution; South; Indian; Caste

Anthropologists have long been interested in the relationship between biology and culture. The Hindu caste system, which established preferred mating practices among the populations of India, is a good example of the impact of social processes on human biology. Numerous investigators have studied the effect of the caste system on genetic variation. Yet the generalizations from this body of work remain unconvincing for several reasons. First, many of the polymorphisms assayed are indirect measurements of DNA variation, are sampled from only a few loci, and are not selectively neutral. Second, many studies do not estimate significance levels or confidence intervals, leaving the findings suspect. Finally, no systematic comparisons have been made with continental populations (i.e., Africans, Asians, and Europeans) using a large, uniform set of DNA polymorphisms. To date, no one has taken advantage of the recent advances in molecular biology to address unresolved questions of long-standing importance to human evolution in India. The proposed research will critically investigate the genetic evolution of South Indian caste populations by (1) formulating and testing hypotheses of the effect of caste subdivision on genetic variation; (2) using a variety of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA polymorphisms; and (3) making direct comparisons to continental populations. The study will analyze mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosomal DNA, and autosomal DNA polymorphisms with differing rates of mutation from a sample representing individuals in 4 castes spanning the caste hierarchy and 2 tribal populations. Comparisons will be made to our existing data from caste and continental populations.

人类学家长期以来对生物学与文化之间的关系感兴趣。 印度教种姓制度在印度人民中确立了首选的交配习惯，是社会进程对人类生物学影响的一个很好的例子。 许多研究者研究了种姓制度对遗传变异的影响。 然而，由于多种原因，这些工作的概括仍然不令人信服。 首先，许多检测的多态性是 DNA 变异的间接测量，仅从少数基因座取样，并且不是选择性中性的。 其次，许多研究没有估计显着性水平或置信区间，使得研究结果令人怀疑。 最后，还没有使用大量统一的 DNA 多态性与大陆人群（即非洲人、亚洲人和欧洲人）进行系统比较。 迄今为止，还没有人利用分子生物学的最新进展来解决对印度人类进化长期重要的未解决问题。 拟议的研究将通过以下方式批判性地研究南印度种姓群体的遗传进化：（1）制定并检验种姓细分对遗传变异影响的假设； (2)利用多种线粒体和核DNA多态性； (3) 与大陆人口进行直接比较。 该研究将分析不同突变率的线粒体 DNA、Y 染色体 DNA 和常染色体 DNA 多态性，该样本代表跨越种姓等级的 4 个种姓和 2 个部落群体的个体。 将与我们现有的来自种姓和大陆人口的数据进行比较。