GENETIC-HETEROGENEITY AMONG THE HINDUS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE OTHER CAUCASOID POPULATIONS - NEW DATA ON PUNJAB-HARYANA AND RAJASTHAN INDIAN STATES

The genetic structure of Rajasthan Hindus and Punjab-Haryana Hindus an d Sikhs has been studied for ABO, RH, APOC2, C6, C7, F13A, F13B, HP, O RM1, ACP1, ADA, AK1, ESD, GLO1, PGD, PGM1 subtyping, and PGP. This is the first genetic survey on Hindus of Rajasthan. Furthermore, many of these markers have never been studied on Hindus before (APOC2, C6, C7, F13A, F13B, ORM1, PGP). These data, together with those previously av ailable for Hindus, have been utilized to analyze the within-Hindus ge netic heterogeneity by R(ST) statistic and correspondence analysis. Th e genetic relationships of Hindus to other Causcasoid populations were also investigated. In the first analysis, two eastern states (Orissa and Andhra Pradesh) were found to be quite separate from each other an d clearly distinct from the northwestern and western states. Out of th e markers which could not be utilized in this analysis, PGM1 subtyping turned out to discriminate between the Dravidian-speaking and the Ind o-Aryan-speaking Hindus. The second analysis shows a clear-cut separat ion of Hindus from Europeans, with Near Eastern and Middle Eastern pop ulations genetically in an intermediate position. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.