Genetic studies on Sri Lankan Tamils

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Although Sri Lankan Tamils are culturally and linguistically distinct, genetic studies indicate that they are closely related to other ethnic groups in the island while being related to the Indian Tamils from South India and Bengalis from the East India as well. There are various studies that indicate varying degrees of connections between Sri Lankan Tamils, Sinhalese and Indian ethnic groups.

Study by Dr. Gautam K. Kshatriya

According to a

Veddahs.[1] This is also supported by a genetic distance study, which showed low differences in genetic distance between Tamils and the Sinhalese.[2] Tamils and the Sinhalese also share similar cultures in terms of kinship classification, cousin marriage, dress and housing.[3]

Other studies

Furthermore, a study looking at genetic variation of the FUT2 gene in the Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhalese population, found similar genetic backgrounds for both ethnic groups, with little genetic flow from other neighbouring Asian population groups.[4] Studies have also found no significant difference with regards to blood group, blood genetic markers and single-nucleotide polymorphism between the Sri Lankan Tamils and other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka.[5][6][7] Another study has also found "no significant genetic variation among the major ethnic groups in Sri Lanka".[8] This is further supported by a study which found very similar frequencies of alleles MTHFR 677T, F2 20210A & F5 1691A in South Indian Tamil, Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil and Moor populations.[9]

However, another study looking at

Alu polymorphism,[10] VNTR[11] and genetic distance[2]
have found the genetic relationship between the South Indian Tamil and Sinhalese to be much smaller than Kshatriya's findings (11–30%).

Dr Sarabjit Mastanain finding states

eigenvector plot of the R-matrix.[12]

Genetic distance

Burgher

Malay

Moor

Tamil

Sinhalese

(5 populations of Sri Lanka)

See also

References

  1. PMID 8543296
    .
  2. ^
    doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330450112
    .
  3. JSTOR 667927
    .
  4. S2CID 10401001
    .
  5. JSTOR 2799860
    .
  6. PMID 3166342
    .
  7. S2CID 24958292
    .
  8. ^ Ruwan J. Illeperuma, Samudi N. Mohotti, Thilini M. De Silva, Neil D. Fernandopulle, W.D. Ratnasooriya, Genetic profile of 11 autosomal STR loci among the four major ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, Forensic Science International: Genetics, Volume 3, Issue 3, June 2009, Pages e105-e106
  9. ^ Vajira H.W. Dissanayake, Lakshini Y. Weerasekera, C. Gayani Gammulla, Rohan W. Jayasekara, Prevalence of genetic thrombophilic polymorphisms in the Sri Lankan population – implications for association study design and clinical genetic testing services, Experimental and Molecular Pathology, Volume 87, Issue 2, October 2009, Pages 159–162
  10. ^ http://www.krepublishers.com/06-Special%20Volume-Journal/T-Anth-00-Special%20Volumes/T-Anth-SI-03-Anth-Today-Web/Anth-SI-03-29-Mastana-S/Anth-SI-03-29-Mastana-S-Tt.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  11. PMID 8908803
    .
  12. PMID 8908798
    .
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