Indians are at Higher Risk of Recessive Genetic Diseases

By
James
– October 7, 2009Posted in: Featured

Researchers have found that Indians are a collection of few genetically isolated groups. Most Indians, are the descendants of 2 major ancestral groups, “the Ancestral North Indians (ANI)” and “the Ancestral South Indians (ASI)”. The rest of the groups formed from the genetic mixture of these two groups. They are named as “founder events”. These groups are found to be genetically isolated because the genes from one group did not pass over to other group much over thousands of years.

Significance of this Research Finding: The risks of genetic diseases increase when genes of a particular group remain within that group. It is because the defects present in the genes are acquired by all the decedents of that group. But when genes from two different groups interact, there are fair amount of chances that this risk is reduced. This study suggests that, Indians being genetically isolated groups, are at high risks of recessive genetic diseases.

What the Research Involved ?

  • The Research was led by Dr. David Reich of Harvard and Dr. Lalji Singh of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India.
  • They wanted to study the variations of genes in Indian Population.
  • The DNA samples of 132 people, from 13 states of India and representing 25 diverse ethnic groups, were collected and studied.
  • The study will help to further understand the genes of the Indians.
  • In this way, the genetic diseases among the Indians can be well addressed.
  • The findings of the research were published in the September 24, 2009, issue of Nature.

Source: nih.gov

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