Ancestry of Nepal population is a mix of South and East-Asia: CCMB study

The results obtained from this study helped the researchers in filling several critical gaps about the history and past demographic events that shaped the present Nepalese genetic diversity.

Hyderabad: The maternal genetic ancestry of population in Nepal is a mixture of South and East-Asian population, a first of its kind largest genetic study of population of Nepal, taken-up by an international team of researchers led by Dr. K Thangaraj of Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), said. The findings of the genetic study of the population of Nepal were published on October 15 in the journal Human Genetics.

“This is the first largest study on the Nepali populations, where we have analyzed the mitochondrial DNA sequence of 999 individuals from different ethnic groups of Nepal, including Newar, Magar, Sherpa, Brahmin, Tharu, Tamang, and populations from Kathmandu and Eastern Nepal and found that most Nepali populations have derived their maternal ancestry from the lowland populations than the highlanders,” Dr. K Thangaraj, who is presently the Director of Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad, said.

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The results obtained from this study helped the researchers in filling several critical gaps about the history and past demographic events that shaped the present Nepalese genetic diversity. “Our study showed that the ancient genetic make-up of Nepalis was gradually transformed by various mixing episodes along the migratory path to Nepal; the carriers of some mitochondrial lineages may have crossed the Himalayas into Nepal, most likely via Southeast Tibet, between 3.8 and 6 thousand years ago,” said Rajdip Basnet, the first author of the study from Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

“Tibeto-Burman communities like Newar and Magar revealed distinct population history than contemporary high-altitude Tibetans/Sherpas. This study using history, archaeological and genetic information has helped us in understanding the population history of Tibeto-Burman communities of Nepal,” said Dr. Niraj Rai, one of the authors from DST- Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow.

“The cultural ties of Nepal with India and Tibet reflected in their genomic ancestry,” said Gyaneshwer Chaubey, a Professor from Banaras Hindu University and co-author of the study. “Such a study is helpful for establishing the genetic affinities of populations across our border and for better understanding of early human migration,” said Dr. Vinay K Nandicoori, the director of CSIR- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.