Genetic heterogeneity among the Hindus and their relationships with the other "Caucasoid" populations: new data on Punjab-Haryana and Rajasthan Indian states.

The genetic structure of Rajasthan Hindus and Punjab-Haryana Hindus and Sikhs has been studied for ABO, RH, APOC2, C6, C7, F13A, F13B, HP, ORM1, ACP1, ADA, AK1, ESD, GLO1, PGD, PGM1 subtyping, and PGP. This is the first genetic survey on Hindus of Rajasthan. Furthermore, many of these markers have never been studied on Hindus before (APOC2, C6, C7, F13A, F13B, ORM1, PGP). These data, together with those previously available for Hindus, have been utilized to analyze the within-Hindus genetic heterogeneity by RST statistic and correspondence analysis. The genetic relationships of Hindus to other Causcasoid populations were also investigated. In the first analysis, two eastern states (Orissa and Andhra Pradesh) were found to be quite separate from each other and clearly distinct from the northwestern and western states. Out of the markers which could not be utilized in this analysis, PGM1 subtyping turned out to discriminate between the Dravidian-speaking and the Indo-Aryan-speaking Hindus. The second analysis shows a clear-cut separation of Hindus from Europeans, with Near Eastern and Middle Eastern populations genetically in an intermediate position.