HLA-A allele frequency and haplotype distribution in the dravidian tribal communities of south India

Background: The tribal communities of South India are considered to be the original inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent, belonging to the most primitive Dravidian speaking communities. These Dravidian speaking forest dwelling tribal populations have remained isolated from any intermingling with other non-tribal communities.
Aims and Objectives: We propose to understand the evolutionary processes mediated by molecular, functional and immunological information based on human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genetic system.
Material and Methods: The HLA-A diversity was analyzed in seven Dravidian tribal populations namely Malapandaram, Paniya, Kurichiya, Kanikkar, Adiya, Kattunaikka and Kuruma of Kerala, South India using the PCR-SSP method. The tribal communities were compared with a group comprising of random non-tribal Dravidian samples of southern India.
Results: In the present study, 11 HLA-A alleles were identified in the South Indian population. The most frequent alleles included HLA-A*24, A*02, A*33 and *A11. HLA-A*24 had the highest frequency in all the tribal groups while, A*02 was the highest frequency allele in the RND group. The haplotype Cw*14-A*24 was present in all the populations. The three-locus haplotype B*52-Cw*14-A*24 was observed in all the populations except Kurichiya and Kanikkar.
Conclusion: The study suggests that the RND population is highly diverse and more likely to have an admixed origin.