Trends in Molecular Anthropological Studies in India

Abstract

Indian population is characterized by wide diversity and unique population structure shaped by different waves of migration and the practice of caste endogamy. Anthropologists have been studying the peopling of India and the relationships between different populations using traditional genetic markers. With the advent of molecular genetic techniques the focus has turned to using the DNA polymorphisms for resolving different anthropological questions and to test the different hypotheses in vogue. In this paper we make an attempt to critically review the trends in molecular anthropological studies till date and bring out salient features of the findings. An attempt has been made to evaluate the merit of the molecular studies in the perspective of unique population structure of India.