Genetic diversity among Bangali and seven ethnic groups of Bangladesh based on Y-chromosome

Abstract

A comprehensive population genetic study was conducted using 17 Y-chromosome specific microsatellites to decipher genetic diversity of the Bangladeshi populations from a Y-chromosome perspective. Seven ethnic populations living in different parts of Bangladesh along with the mainstream Bangali population was included in this study. A total of 1,594 haplotypes were typed in 1,631 male subjects belonging to Bangali, Chakma, Tripura, Rakhine, Marma, Hajong, Manipuri, and Khasia with corresponding discrimination capacity of 97.301, 73.885, 65.563, 75.862, 77.536, 80.909, 74.809, and 81.250%, respectively. Overall, 1,359 different haplotypes were detected, of which 1,222 (89.919%) were each found in a single male-only. Observed haplotype diversity values were in a range between 0.982 (Manipuri) and 0.998 (Bangali). Bangalis have the highest average gene diversity value of 0.662 while tribal populations showed less. The pair-wise genetic distances Rst values between the studied populations and 32 worldwide reference populations revealed that the strong genetic relationship of Bangali with Nepalese (Kathmandu, Nepal), Irani (Central Iran, Iran), Iraqi (Iraq), Tamil (Tamil Nadu, India), and Bhil (Gujarat, India) populations. In addition, Chakma, Tripura, Rakhine, Marma, and Hajong were the most similar population to Tripuri (Tripura, India), Garo (Tangail, Bangladesh), Han (Beijing, China), Korean (Seoul, South Korea), Asian American (United States), and Japanese (Tokyo, Japan) populations, respectively. In contrast, Manipuri showed close genetic affinity with Tamil (Tamil Nadu, India) and Bhil (Gujarat, India) population. Moreover, Khasia lies closer to a clade consisting of Oraon (Chhattisgarh, India) and Santal (Dinajpur, Bangladesh). The studied samples analyzed were categorized into twenty different haplogroups. The Bangali showed greater frequency for haplogroups R1a, H, and L, whereas the studied seven ethnic populations exhibited higher frequency for haplogroups L, Q, R1a, and T. The Bangali contains paternal lineages from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran of West Asia, whereas the ethnic populations contain paternal lineages from the northern and southern areas of East Asia. The study has also constructed haplotype and allele frequency data for 17 forensic identity markers and characterized the levels of populations sub-structure as well as genetic relationship within and between Bangladeshi populations.