'Most South Asian groups vulnerable for population-specific

Most South Asian groups are vulnerable for population-specific diseases as they share common DNA segment, a new study said today.
"We did a very elaborate study, analysing 2,800 population with nearly six lakh genetic markers and found that for the last 100 generations some of the population share the common DNA segment.
"That means, many population in India are following endogamy marriage which leads to populations specific diseases. Not only India, South Asia," Kumarasamy Thangaraj, a co-senior author for the study, said.
Endogamy is the custom of marrying only within the limits of a local community, clan or tribe.
Thangaraj of CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here said the finding has been made while working on population specific diseases.

"Indians and South Asians have large number of endogamous populations. We have been working on various population groups for the last 15 years. We also know that there are some population specific diseases. We did the study to understand how this has happened," he said.

The study was published online yesterday in 'Nature Genetics' magazine.
"The Ashkenazi Jews and Finnish populations are known to have population specific diseases. But, in India or South Asia, it is not well documented. But the genetic data shows that most of the populations potentially carry the mutation which leads to population specific diseases," he said.

Thangaraj said people or families should be advised not to marry individuals who carry the same mutation.
"So, what is the future course of direction? Once we identify that there is a possibility of having population specific disease, it is our duty to identify the mutations;
"Based on the mutation, advise the population or the family who has the disease. Such that don't marry the individual who carry the same mutation. That way we can avoid future generations carrying such kind of diseases," he said.
The existence of such diseases in the population can be avoided if that is practised for several generations, he said.

A genetic test, particularly looking for mutations in individuals is the answer, he added.