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. 2019 May 6;9(1):6968.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43384-3.

The peopling of Lakshadweep Archipelago

Mohammed S Mustak  1   2 , Niraj Rai  3 , Mohan Rao Naveen  1 , Satya Prakash  2 , S Justin Carlus  2 , Nagarjuna Pasupuleti  1 , Anshika Srivastava  4 , Prajjval Pratap Singh  4 , Idrees Babu  5 , Pavan Kumar Dubey  6 , Gyaneshwer Chaubey  4   7 , Kumarasamy Thangaraj  8
Affiliations

The peopling of Lakshadweep Archipelago

Mohammed S Mustak et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The archipelago of Lakshadweep is considered as a stopover to the maritime route since ancient time. It is not very clear when the human first occupied these islands, however in the long history of the islands, the local legends suggest that Lakshadweep has been ruled by different kingdoms. To have a better understanding of peopling of Lakshadweep, we have analysed 557 individuals from eight major islands for mitochondrial DNA and 166 individuals for Y chromosome markers. We found a strong founder effect for both paternal and maternal lineages. Moreover, we report a close genetic link of Lakshadweep islanders with the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India. Most of the Lakshadweep islands share the haplogroups specific to South Asia and West Eurasia, except Minicoy Island that also shares haplogroups of East Eurasia. The paternal and maternal ancestries of the majority of island populations suggest their arrival from distinct sources. We found that the maternal ancestry was closer to South Indian populations, whereas the paternal ancestry was overwhelmed with the haplogroups, more common in the Maldives and North of India. In conclusion, our first genetic data suggest that the majority of human ancestry in Lakshadweep is largely derived from South Asia with minor influences from East and West Eurasia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The spatial distribution of regional maternal components in Lakshadweep islanders in comparison with other neighbouring populations. South Asian haplogroups—mtDNA: M2–6, N5, M33–65, R5–8, and R31–32. East Eurasian haplogroups—A–G, M7–12, M66, R22, and N9. West Eurasian haplogroups H-K, U1, U4, U7 and U9 Unresolved haplogroups—M*, R*, N* including other lineages, for example, M31 and M32.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The scatter pattern of Lakshadweep islands groups in the PC1 vs. PC2 analysis for mtDNA within other regional South Asian populations.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The median-joining network of 557 mtDNAs belonging to Lakshadweep islands. Each sample represented on the diagram has been sequenced for the HVS-I region and genotyped for the coding region mutations that are indicated in Supplementary Table 1. Circle sizes are proportional to the number of mtDNAs with that haplotype.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The genetic affinity of Lakshadweep island populations with other regional South Asian populations in the PC1 vs. PC2 analysis obtained from haplogroup frequencies for the Y chromosome.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The spatial distribution of regional paternal components in Lakshadweep islanders in comparison with other neighbouring populations. South Asian haplogroups—C5, F, H, L, and R2. Southeast Asian haplogroups—C2, C3, D, and M–O. West Eurasian haplogroups G,I, and J. Unresolved haplogroups—K, P, Q and R1a.
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