Afghan Hindu Kush: where Eurasian sub-continent gene flows converge

PLoS One. 2013 Oct 18;8(10):e76748. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076748. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Despite being located at the crossroads of Asia, genetics of the Afghanistan populations have been largely overlooked. It is currently inhabited by five major ethnic populations: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek and Turkmen. Here we present autosomal from a subset of our samples, mitochondrial and Y- chromosome data from over 500 Afghan samples among these 5 ethnic groups. This Afghan data was supplemented with the same Y-chromosome analyses of samples from Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and updated Pakistani samples (HGDP-CEPH). The data presented here was integrated into existing knowledge of pan-Eurasian genetic diversity. The pattern of genetic variation, revealed by structure-like and Principal Component analyses and Analysis of Molecular Variance indicates that the people of Afghanistan are made up of a mosaic of components representing various geographic regions of Eurasian ancestry. The absence of a major Central Asian-specific component indicates that the Hindu Kush, like the gene pool of Central Asian populations in general, is a confluence of gene flows rather than a source of distinctly autochthonous populations that have arisen in situ: a conclusion that is reinforced by the phylogeography of both haploid loci.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Afghanistan / ethnology
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Asia / ethnology
  • Asian People / genetics
  • Chromosomes, Human, Y / genetics*
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / chemistry
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / classification
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics*
  • Ethnicity / genetics*
  • Europe / ethnology
  • Gene Flow*
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genetics, Population / methods
  • Geography
  • Haplotypes
  • Humans
  • Phylogeny
  • Phylogeography / methods
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • White People / genetics

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial

Grants and funding

Research was granted by the Agence National de la Recherche (Grant #BLAN07-3_222301, CSD 9 - Sciences humaines et sociales). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.