Congruence of genomic and ethnolinguistic affinities among five tribal populations of Madhya Pradesh (India)

The central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh is home to a large number of tri bal populations of diverse linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. With a view t o examining how well genomic affinities among tribal populations of this st ate correspond with their ethnic and linguistic affinities, we analysed DNA samples of individuals drawn from five tribes with diverse, but reasonably well-documented, ethnohistorical and linguistic backgrounds. Each DNA samp le was scored at 16 biallelic DNA marker loci. On the basis of these data, genomic affinities among these populations were estimated. We have found an extremely good correspondence between the genomic and ethnolinguistic affi nities.