Karnataka Haplogroup

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Karnataka Castes

Vokkaliga - L, H1, F, R2, G, H2, R1, J2b, D, O, C
Lingayath - H1, L, R1, R2, J2, G, Q, C
Kurumba - H1, L, F
Brahmin - R1, H1, L, Q, J2a

from http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2013/07/y-chromosomes-in-lingayat-and-vokkaliga.html

Our results revealed that the majority of the Lingayat and Vokkaliga paternal gene pools are composed of four Y-chromosomal haplogroups (H, L, F* and R2) that are frequent in the Indian subcontinent. The high level of L1-M76 chromosomes in the Vokkaligas suggests an agricultural expansion in the region, while the predominance of R1a1a1b2-Z93 and J2a-M410 lineages in the Lingayat indicates gene flow from neighboring south Indian populations and West Asia, respectively. Lingayat (0.9981) also exhibits a relatively high haplotype diversity compared to Vokkaliga (0.9901), supporting the historical record that the Lingayat originated from multiple source populations. In addition, we detected ancient lineages such as F*-M213, H*-M69 and C*-M216 that may be indicative of genetic signatures of the earliest settlers who reached India after their migration out of Africa.

In our dataset, haplogroup R-M207 lineages were the most abundant in the Lingayat population (35.64%), while the Vokkaliga males (32.35%) were predominantly characterized by the L-M20 mutation. Within haplogroup R, the R1a1a1b2-Z93 subclade is detected at a higher frequency in the Lingayat paternal gene pool (19.8%) compared to the Vokkaligas (7.84%), while sub-haplogroup R2a-M124 is observed at relatively equivalent proportions in both populations (15.84% and 13.73%, respectively). Haplogroup L-M20, on the other hand, is largely represented by sub-haplogroup L1-M76, with the exception of four Vokkaliga males that belong to the paralogous L3*-M357 branch.

The second most frequent major clade observed in the two studied groups is haplogroup H-M69, an Indian-specific lineage that is particularly frequent among Dravidian-speaking groups (Sahoo et al., 2006). Therefore, it is not surprising that this haplogroup is comparably distributed in both the Lingayat (24.75%) and Vokkaliga (23.53%) populations, with the majority of the males in each collection exhibiting the H1a-M82 mutation (18.81% and 12.75%, respectively). It is interesting to note, however, that H2-Apt chromosomes, which are reported at low frequencies in Indo-European (9.52%) and Dravidian (5.0%) tribes (Sengupta et al., 2006), are restricted to the Vokkaliga population (7.84%).

The frequency of the paraphyletic haplogroup F*-M213 in the Vokkaliga paternal gene pool (13.73%) is comparable to levels reported for the Dravidian populations (13.89%) by Sengupta et al. (2006), although the proportion of F* chromosomes is lower in the Lingayat (4.95%). A reversal of this distribution pattern is observed for haplogroup J, with the Lingayat population (11.88%) exhibiting a much higher frequency of M304 derived lineages relative to Vokkaligas (3.92%). Within the J-M304 clade, the majority of males in both groups are represented by the J2b2*-M241 branch (3.96% and 2.94% in Lingayat and Vokkaliga, respectively), whereas the J2a*-M410 paragroup is observed exclusively in the Lingayat population (3.96%). The J2a3-M68 sublineage, however, is present, albeit at low frequencies (< 2%), in both south Indian collections.

Other informative haplogroups shared between the two Dravidian populations include C-M216 and G-M201. With the exceptions of an undifferentiated C*-M216 chromosome in Vokkaliga and one G1*-M285 derived individual in Lingayat, the C5a-P92 (2.97% and 1.96% in Lingayat and Vokkaliga, respectively) and G2a*-P15 (0.99% and 0.98% in Lingayat and Vokkaliga, respectively) sub-clades are similarly represented in both populations.

Of all the haplogroups analyzed, H-M69 lineages in the Vokkaliga population yield the oldest dates using both the evolutionary (26.97 ± 5.3 kya) and genealogical (10.42 ± 2.1 kya) mutation rates, while slightly younger ages are estimated for the Lingayat collection (22.03 ± 4.2 kya and 8.51 ± 1.6 kya, respectively). The Vokkaligas also exhibit older coalescence times for haplogroup L-M20 (15.52 ± 4.6 kya and 6.00 ± 1.8 kya, respectively) relative to the Lingayat population (11.14 ± 3.1 kya and 4.30 ± 1.2 kya, respectively). These findings are consistent with higher microsatellite variances as well as greater genetic differentiation within the haplogroups H and L in the Vokkaliga collection, which harbors additional sub-clades, namely H2*-Apt and L3*-M357, respectively. The evolutionary time estimates for haplogroups F*-M213 and R2a-M124, in contrast, are considerably older in the Lingayat population (24.64 ± 6.4 kya and 22.34 ± 3.5 kya, respectively) than in the Vokkaligas (11.91 ± 4.3 kya and 14.92 ± 3.6 kya, respectively).

Another haplogroup that is associated with the spread of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia regions is J2-M172 (Cinnioğlu et al., 2004 and Semino et al., 2004). According to Sahoo et al. (2006), only J2 lineages, originating from West Asia rather than Central Asia, represent an external contribution to the Indian paternal gene pool. In particular, subclade J2a-M410 is believed to have entered through the northwestern corridor and subsequently diffused to the south and east (Sahoo et al., 2006 and Thangaraj et al., 2010). This haplogroup is present exclusively in the Lingayat (6.93%), except for one individual from Vokkaliga, suggesting gene flow from West Asia (Sahoo et al., 2006 and Thangaraj et al., 2010). Interestingly, four J2b2-M241 Lingayat males displayed a null allele at DYS458 and failed to produce the AMGY PCR amplicon while their X homolog (AMGX) amplified successfully. Comparison of Y-STR haplotypes of the affected males from the present study with those from the literature (Cadenas et al., 2006), demonstrated a high level of allele sharing, implying shared paternal lineages or a recent common ancestry for these groups of individuals.

This study extends the results of Pamjav et al. 2012 which found only Z93 within R1a1 in mainland Indian populations. The authors estimate 12.8ky as the age of R-Z93 in the Lingayat, but since this uses the evolutionary mutation rate it should actually be divided by a factor of 3.6 which translates into ~1,500BC. So, it seems quite likely that R-Z93 moved from Central->South Asia during the Bronze Age, both on account of its age and the fact that it is a subset of Central Asian diversity. Haplogroup R2 with a nominal age of ~22ky in the Lingayat seems more like a Neolithic lineage.

The percent of H+L+J2b is > 50% for Vokkaliga caste and for Lingayat caste similar to Kamma caste