Genetic Structure of Tibeto-Burman populations of India

In this part of the story of peopling of the northeast of India, I zoom into exploring the cultural and linguistic dynamics within a particular state in the region, namely, Manipur. As before in many of the little stories in the last 4 parts, I show that the dynamics of a dichotomy inside this state is but a reflection of a bigger dynamics outside it, and in fact, in Southeast Asia, especially, Myanmar. In particular, I take up the dichotomy of valley versus mountain, and locate it in Myanmar in terms of the dichotomy between the Shans and the Kachins. In exploring these and other dichotomies, I identify a very significant character of the Manipuri or Meitei/ Meetei society, namely, their deep association with the land that they have been a part of for millenia.

There have been challenges to the received view of the structure of the Sino-Tibetan language family. This is all well and good, as we should constantly challenge our most basic assumptions. In this paper I look at the arguments presented with a view to convincing us to change our conception of Sino-Tibetan and to change the name of the family to " Trans-Himalayan " , and find them less than convincing, due to problems of fact and argumentation.
This is a prepublication draft. Comments greatly appreciated!

Background: Genetic diversity and genetic variation of 10 populations and subpopulations of Magnolia wufengensis, a new and endangered endemic species, were examined by inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) molecular markers. Compared with other endangered endemic Magnolia taxa, Magnolia wufengensis holds a relatively high level of genetic variation.
Result: Total genetic diversity was found to be 87.7% for ISSR and 88.0% for SRAP markers. For polymorphic loci (P), the effective mean number of alleles (Ae) was 1.414 for ISSR markers and 1.458 for SRAP markers, while the mean expected heterozygosity (H) was 0.256 using ISSR and 0.291 for SRAP markers. Within-population variation was estimated for P as 74.9% using ISSR and 74.6% with SRAP markers; the number of alleles Ae was 1.379 with ISSR and 1.397 for SRAP and H 0.235 with ISSR and 0.247 for SRAP markers.
Conclusion: The analysis of molecular variation of both ISSR and SRAP marker systems indicated that most genetic variation is within populations, with values of 90.64% and 82.92% respectively. Mantel tests indicated a moderate association between the two marker systems and a low correlation between genetic and geographic distances. High levels of genetic diversity and low levels of population divergence suggest that genetic drift is not currently of great concern for this species. Severe habitat loss and fragmentation, predominantly ascribed to anthropogenic pressures, caused in-situ developing restriction of this species. Action for conserving this rare species for its long-term survival should be taken immediately.

The mating patterns and behaviour of the Abbad tribe in Jordan were examined. The study was based on empirical data, obtained from four male samples representing the different levels of Abbad’s substructure, as well as non empirical information and pedigrees collected during field work.. From the total matings of each sample, at least one third were first cousin marriages and around 90 per cent were within Abbad. The estimated inbreeding coefficient ( mean F = 0.018) was relatively high. Relatedness, geographic locality, maternal links and the type of economy were suggested to the factors, which had influenced the mating behaviour of Abbad. The study had also indicated on the vital role of matings in the formation and make up of the tribe. Hence, the Abbad tribe could be described to represent an endogamic population consisting of more or less inbreeding subunits.

In this research, Pike (Esox lusius) one of the most valuable commercial marine species has been evaluated for genetic structure in Anzali wetland using microsatellite markers. 60 specimens of adult pikes were sampled from two spawning seasons, winter and spring in Anzali wetland. Five pairs of microsatellites, tested on the genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). All loci of microsatellite produced polymorphic bands as polymorphic loci were used to analyze the genetic variation of the pike. Analyses revealed that average of alleles per locus were 10.8 (range 9 to 13 alleles). All sampled seasons contained private alleles. The average observed and expected heterozygosity was 0.914 and 0.885, respectively. The inbreeding coefficient values of five microsatellite loci were negative. With the exception of a locus in spring, all loci significantly deviated from H-W equilibrium (P<0.01). Based on AMOVA, RST and FST values were significant between seasons (P<0.01). The genetic distance between populations was 0.442, which indicates that the genetic difference among the studied populations is significant. These results support the existence of different genetic populations in spawning seasons in this area.