Female gene flow stratifies Hindu castes

Genetic variation at twentythree microsatellite loci in sixteen human populations

“…Betweencaste variation for mtDNA in Tamil populations is greater than that for Andhra populations. This may be partly due to regionally high female mobility in Andhra castes as previously reported [20,30]. As expected, for all genetic systems, the vast majority of all variation occurs within populations.…”

“…Genetic distances between caste populations from the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, are correlated with differences in caste rank, suggesting that endogamy and differential inter-caste gene flow influences genetic structure [30]. Several studies have found a similar pattern, [31][32][33] but others have not [6,34].…”

“…For the former sample, inter-caste distance based on mtDNA polymorphisms (HVS1 sequence) demonstrated a strong relationship to caste rank, while distances based on Ychromosome data did not. This was interpreted as evidence of historical upward female mobility in the caste system [30]. (We note, however, that the primary reason for a lack of correlation between Y-chromosome distances and caste rank was close affinity between the upper-caste Brahmin and lower-caste Relli samples [20].)…”

The Indian origin of paternal haplogroup R1a1* substantiates the autochthonous origin of Brahmins and the caste system

“…11 The co-existence of IE tribes and DR castes indicates a complex historical interaction and suggests no 'one to one correlation' between language and this social organization. 12 In spite of the consensus on the relatively uniform maternal gene pool of Indian populations and the large efforts through many philological, 13,14 archaeological 15,16 and recent molecular genetic approaches to elucidate rival models, 6,7,9,11,12,[17][18][19][20][21] the history and concepts of the origin of the caste system are still controversial and unclear. The competing main models (the first of them based on shared IE languages) suggest that contemporary Hindu Indians are descendants of primarily West Eurasians who migrated from the Near east, Antolia and the Caucasus 3000-8000 years ago, 13,14 which has been supported by the demic diffusion model 1,22 and validated by molecular genetic data.…”

Maori origins, Y-chromosome haplotypes and implications for human history in the Pacific

“…Here we attempt to illuminate the origins of the Maori by using a combination of high resolution Y-chromosome binary haplotypes and mtDNA sequence variation. In addition, we investigate whether evidence exists for sex specific modulated gene flow, as has been shown in other populations [Bamshad et al, 1998;Passarino et al, 1998;Zerjal et al, 1997].…”