The genetics of the Zoroastrians

Angela

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http://www.eupedia.com/forum/thread...of-Slavic-expansion/page2?p=506909#post506909

SaioaLopez et al
The genetic legacy of Zoroastrianism in Iran and India: Insights into population structure, gene flow and selection

"Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest extant religions in the world, originating in Persia (present-day Iran) during the second millennium BCE. Historical records indicate that migrants from Persia brought Zoroastrianism to India, but there is debate over the timing of these migrations. Here we present novel genome-wide autosomal, Y-chromosome and mitochondrial data from Iranian and Indian Zoroastrians and neighbouring modern-day Indian and Iranian populations to conduct the first genome-wide genetic analysis in these groups. Using powerful haplotype-based techniques, we show that Zoroastrians in Iran and India show increased genetic homogeneity relative to other sampled groups in their respective countries, consistent with their current practices of endogamy. Despite this, we show that Indian Zoroastrians (Parsis) intermixed with local groups sometime after their arrival in India, dating this mixture to 690-1390 CE and providing strong evidence that the migrating group was largely comprised of Zoroastrian males. By exploiting the rich information in DNA from ancient human remains, we also highlight admixture in the ancestors of Iranian Zoroastrians dated to 570 BCE-746 CE, older than admixture seen in any other sampled Iranian group, consistent with a long-standing isolation of Zoroastrians from outside groups. Finally, we report genomic regions showing signatures of positive selection in present-day Zoroastrians that might correlate to the prevalence of particular diseases amongst these communities


See also:
http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2017/04/19/128777.full.pdf
Gyaneshwer Chaubey et al

“Like Sugar in Milk”: Reconstructing the genetic history of the Parsipopulation

Our extensive analyses indicated that among present-day populations, the Parsis aregenetically closest to Middle Eastern (Iranian and the Caucasus) populations rather thantheir South Asian neighbors. They also share the highest number of haplotypes with presentdayIranians and we estimate that the admixture of the Parsis with Indian populationsoccurred ~1,200 years ago. Enriched homozygosity in the Parsi reflects their recentisolation and inbreeding. We also observed 48% South-Asian-specific mitochondriallineages among the ancient samples, which might have resulted from the assimilation of localfemales during the initial settlement.Conclusions We show that the Parsis are genetically closest to the Neolithic Iranians, followed by presentdayMiddle Eastern populations rather than those in South Asia and provide evidence of sexspecificadmixture from South Asians to the Parsis. Our results are consistent with the historically-recorded migration of the Parsi populations to South Asia in the 7thcentury andin agreement with their assimilation into the Indian sub-continent’s population and culturalmilieu “like sugar in milk”. Moreover, in a wider context our results suggest a majordemographic transition in West Asia due to Islamic-conquest."
 

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