Genomic polymorphism in tribal population of Tripura: Signifying their closer affinity with the Nepalese and Tibetan populations.

BACKGROUND India is the second most populous country in the world, which is aligned into various community segments. AIM To evaluate the genetic diversity of the tribal population of Tripura, we carried out this study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS 15 autosomal STR markers were used for investigation of genomic diversity, inter- and intra- population relationships among the studied population, and other reported neighbouring tribal and caste populations. RESULTS Results indicated that the tribals of Tripura share their closer genetic affinity with the Trans-Himalayan (Nepalese, Bhutanese and Tibetan) populations. Locus D18S51 was found as the most discriminatory among all the studied loci with uppermost discrimination power (PD = 0.964) and lowest matching probability (Pm = 0.036) in the study. All the evaluated loci herein are useful, having the maximum value of combined power of discrimination (CPD = 1), combined power of exclusion (CPE = 0.99999746), combined paternity index (CPI = 3 × 105) and combined matching probability (CPm = 2.12 × 1 0 -7). CONCLUSION Population genetic analysis showed that the studied population has genetic relatedness with the compared Nepalese and Tibetan populations i.e., Kathmandu, Tibet, Newar, and Gorkhas, followed by eastern and central Indian populations.