New research sheds light on genetic heritage of Nicobarese people

New Delhi [India], December 8 : A recent genetic study has revealed new insights into the genetic origin of the Nicobarese.
A group of researchers from nine institutions co-led by Prof. Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi and Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, conducted a detailed genetic analysis, using DNA markers that are inherited exclusively from mothers and fathers respectively, and those from both the parents.
The Nicobar Islands are situated in the eastern Indian Ocean and south of the Andaman Islands.
The archipelago largely consists of seven large islands, including Car Nicobar and Great Nicobar, and numerous smaller ones, characterised by flat topography, coral reefs, and sandy beaches. Nicobarese people are estimated to be approximately 25,000.
This helped them to explore the ancestry and genetic affinities of the Nicobarese with South and Southeast Asian populations. The findings of this pioneering study have been recently published in the European Journal of Human Genetics.
"Previous theories suggested that the linguistic ancestors of the Nicobarese settled in the Nicobar archipelago during the early Holocene, about 11,700 years ago. However, our new genetic research on Nicobarese, involving 1,559 individuals from South and Southeast Asia, indicates a significant ancestral connection of Nicobarese shared with Austroasiatic language-speaking populations across South and Southeast Asia," said Dr Thangaraj.
"But, our studies also suggest that the Nicobar islanders settled there approximately only 5000 years ago," said Dr Thangaraj.
"Among these Austroasiatic populations, the study notably highlighted the genetic affinity of the Htin Mal of mainland Southeast Asia with the Nicobarese people. However, the Htin Mal community has maintained remarkable ethnic distinctness over time, exhibiting a pronounced genetic drift from the Nicobarese," said Prof George van Driem, the renowned linguist from Bern University Switzerland.
"Genomic regions shared across linguistic groups suggest an ancient distribution of Austroasiatic populations in Southeast Asia," said Prof Gyaneshwer Chaubey, the lead author of the study.
He further said that, "Our findings compellingly argue that the Nicobarese and the Htin Mal represent valuable genetic proxies for understanding ancient Austroasiatic heritage."
Archaeologist Sachin K Tiwari said, "The archaeological connection between South and Southeast Asia is being bolstered by the genetic finding.".
The team includes, Dr Rahul Mishra, Dr Prajjval Pratap Singh, Shailesh Desai, Pratik Pandey, Dr Sachin Tiwari from BHU; Dr Niraj Rai from BSIP Lucknow; Dr Rakesh Tamang from Calcutta University; Dr Prashanth Suravajhala from Amrita Vishwavidyapeetham.