Genetic affinity between Ningxia Hui and eastern Asian populations revealed by a set of InDel loci

Abstract

According to historical records, ethnic Hui in China obtained substantial genetic components from western Eurasian populations during their Islamization. However, some scholars believed that the ancestry of Hui people were native Chinese populations. In this context, the formation of Hui is due to simple cultural diffusion rather than demic diffusion. In this study, we examined the forensic and population genetic application of the 30 InDel loci in Hui population from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northwest China. Genotype analysis of 129 unrelated individuals revealed that all loci were in the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in Ningxia Hui. Forensic indices calculated from genotypes demonstrated that this panel, Qiagen DIPplex ® Investigator kit, was powerful enough to be used in individual identification but not in paternity cases. Through population genetic analysis, we found that Ningxia Hui received much more genetic contributions from East Asian populations than those from western Eurasian populations. Finally, we statistically identified the admixture signal of eastern and western Eurasians, although the latter is weak, in Ningxia Hui via the three-population test. All this evidence suggested that the formation of Ningxia Hui was mainly attributed to the cultural transformation of local Chinese residents with minor gene flow from western Eurasian populations.

The Genetic Structure of Chinese Hui Ethnic Group Revealed by Complete Mitochondrial Genome Analyses Using Massively Parallel Sequencing

“…For example, Xie et al investigated the genetic and forensic characteristics of nine different geographical Hui groups using 157 Y-SNPs and 27 Y-STRs and finally found that Hui groups from the Northwest China, Sichuan, and Shandong provinces displayed close genetic affinities with Chinese Han [ 42 ]. He et al and Zhou et al also found that there was an intimate genetic relationship between the Ningxia Hui group and Chinese Han population with a significant East Asian ancestry component [ 43 , 44 ]. Yao et al presented that a significant genetic homogeneity was found between Linxia Hui and Han [ 45 ].…”

Significant East Asian Affinity of the Sichuan Hui Genomic Structure Suggests the Predominance of the Cultural Diffusion Model in the Genetic Formation Process

“…However, others held the opposite opinion that East Asian Hui people descended from western Eurasian migrants (Wang et al, 2019). Zhou et al (2020) genotyped 30 InDel loci in 129 Ningxia Hui individuals and found that East Asian populations contributed more genetic variants to Hui people than western Eurasian populations, which was consistent with Zou's observation in the Wuzhong Hui population (Zou et al, 2020). He et al (2018) sequenced 165 ancestry informative single-nucleotide polymorphisms (AISNPs) in 159 Hui people and found East Asian-dominant ancestry in Hui along the Silk Road, which was in accordance with the autosomal STR-based results (Yao et al, 2016).…”

Genetic Origins and Sex-Biased Admixture of the Huis

“…Previous genetic studies of the Hui people were predominantly based on autosomal InDel ( Zhou et al 2020 ), autosomal STR ( Deng et al 2011 ; Yao et al 2016 ), Y chromosome ( Xie et al 2019 ), X chromosome ( Meng et al 2014 ), and mtDNA ( Yao et al 2004 ). Moreover, most of these studies mainly aimed to evaluate the power of those markers in forensic applications.…”