Maternal genetic origin of Konkani speakers studied

Metro India News | HYDERABAD

The Konkan region on the west coast of India is a hotspot of culture, folklore and ethnolinguistic diversity, and it covers the latitude of Daman in the north to the Gaṅgavalli river and Carwar in the south. A recent study lead by Dr. K. Thangaraj, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad and Prof. MS Mustak, Mangalore University has shed light on the complex maternal genetic landscape of the Konkani-speaking population, which is now published in the journal ‘Heredity’.

In this study, the researchers have analyzed the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 295 Konkani individuals to trace the maternal origin of the Konkani population. This analysis confirmed that the Konkani maternal gene pool is shaped by both deep-rooted South Asian and West Eurasian lineages.