title: Genomic diversities and affinities among eight endogamous groups of Haryana (India): a study on insertion/deletion polymorphisms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The present study examines genomic variation among eight endogamous groups (Bania, Kamboh, Lobana, Saini, Bishnoi, Sansi, Balmiki and Ramdasia) of Haryana, north-west India.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study examines the eight indel polymorphic loci in the population of Haryana. These loci were further used to compare the genomic diversity of the population in relation to other population groups of India.
  
  
  METHODS
  DNA samples from 580 unrelated individuals belonging to eight endogamous groups were analysed at eight human-specific insertion/deletion polymorphic loci following standard protocols.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All loci, except Alu CD4 and Alu APO, were found to be highly polymorphic. High average heterozygosity values (0.3886 among Kamboh to 0.4276 among Bishnoi) were observed. The overall coefficient of gene differentiation (0.0270) was found to be remarkably close to the Wahlund's variance (0.0258). Comparison with other Indian populations showed that populations of the same geographic region tend to cluster together, irrespective of their social status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In various endogamous groups of Haryana, the time of divergence seems to be too small to reflect the genetic differences between them. It may be possible that gene flow occurred prior to the sub-division into the present endogamous groups or the present populations might have the same sources of genes resulting in a low level of genetic differentiation. Populations of Haryana were found to be more similar with populations of the neighbouring states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
authors.affiliation: Human Genetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India. abyzkuk@gmail.com
authors.forename: Abhay Singh
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.forename: Preeti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arora
mesh_terms: D020087:Alu Elements / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D051456:Gene Flow; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D054643:INDEL Mutation; D007194:India; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers