title: A genome wide pattern of population structure and admixture in peninsular Malaysia Malays.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Malays consist of various sub-ethnic groups which are believed to have different ancestral origins based on their migrations centuries ago. The sub-ethnic groups can be divided based on the region they inhabit; the northern (Melayu Kedah and Melayu Kelantan), western (Melayu Minang) and southern parts (Melayu Bugis and Melayu Jawa) of Peninsular Malaysia. We analyzed 54,794 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which were shared by 472 unrelated individuals from 17 populations to determine the genetic structure and distributions of the ancestral genetic components in five Malay sub-ethnic groups namely Melayu Bugis, Melayu Jawa, Melayu Minang, Melayu Kedah, and Melayu Kelantan. We also have included in the analysis 12 other study populations from Thailand, Indonesia, China, India, Africa and Orang Asli sub-groups in Malay Peninsula, obtained from the Pan Asian SNP Initiative (PASNPI) Consortium and International HapMap project database.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found evidence of genetic influx from Indians to Malays, more in Melayu Kedah and Melayu Kelantan which are genetically different from the other Malay sub-ethnic groups, but similar to Thai Pattani. More than 98% of these northern Malays haplotypes could be found in either Indians or Chinese populations, indicating a highly admixture pattern among populations. Nevertheless, the ancestry lines of Malays, Indonesians and Thais were traced back to have shared a common ancestor with the Proto-Malays and Chinese.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results support genetic admixtures in the Peninsular Malaysia Malay populations and provided valuable information on the enigmatic demographical history as well as shed some insights into the origins of the Malays in the Malay Peninsula.
authors.affiliation: Human Genome Centre, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Wan Isa
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Hatin
authors.affiliation: Human Genome Centre, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ab Rajab
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Nur-Shafawati
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Etemad
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Society (CAS-MPG) Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wenfei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Society (CAS-MPG) Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Society (CAS-MPG) Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Shuhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Society (CAS-MPG) Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Soon-Guan
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Human Genetics Unit, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110, Thailand.
authors.forename: Pornprot
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Limprasert
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Sciences, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.|Centre of Research for Computational Sciences and Informatics in Biology, Bioindustry, Environment, Agriculture and Healthcare (CRYSTAL),Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Merican Amir
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Feisal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Sciences, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rizman-Idid
authors.affiliation: Human Genome Centre, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia. zilfalil@gmail.com.|Department of Pediatrics, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia. zilfalil@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bin Alwi
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Zilfalil
keywords: Admixture; Genetic structure; Haplotypes; Malays; Single nucleotide polymorphisms