page_title: Genetic studies on Sinhalese
section_title: Relationship to Bengalis
hierarchical_section_title: Genetic studies on Sinhalese / Relationship to Bengalis
caption_attribution_description: English: Genetic distance of Sinhalese to other ethnic groups in the Indian Subcontinent according to an Alu Polymorphism analysis. Produced by en:User:Wikinpg.
context_page_description: Genetic studies on the Sinhalese is part of population genetics investigating the origins of the Sinhalese population.
  All studies agree that there is a significant relationship between the Sinhalese and the Bengalis and South Indian Tamils and that there is a significant genetic relationship between Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese, them being closer to each other than other South Asian populations. This is also supported by a genetic distance study, which showed low differences in genetic distance between the Sinhalese and the Bengali, Tamil, and Keralite volunteers.
  A 2017 study conducted by Fumihiko Takeuchi, Tomohiro Katsuya, Ryosuke Kimura and Norihiro Kato showed that the main ancestral population that contributed to the Sinhalese was the "South Asian" component with a significant contribution from the "South Asian and Central Asian" component and smaller contributions from the "Central Asian", "Southeast Asian", "Southeast Asian and East Asian", "East Asian" and "Japanese" components.
context_section_description: An Alu polymorphism analysis of Sinhalese from Colombo by Dr Sarabjit Mastanain in 2007 using Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati (Patel), and Punjabi as parental populations found different proportions of genetic contribution:
  A genetic distance analysis by Dr Robet Kirk also concluded that the modern Sinhalese are most closely related to the Bengalis.
  This is further substantiated by a VNTR study, which found 70-82% of Sinhalese genes to originate from Bengali admixture:
  D1S80 allele frequency (A popular allele for genetic fingerprinting) is also similar between the Sinhalese and Bengalis, suggesting the two groups are closely related. The Sinhalese also have similar frequencies of the allele MTHFR 677T (13%) to West Bengalis (17%).
  A test for Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups conducted by Dr Toomas Kivisild on Sinhalese of Sri Lanka has shown that 23% of the subjects were R1a1a (R-SRY1532) positive. Also in the same test 24.1% of the subjects were R2 positive as subclades of Haplogroup P (92R7). Haplogroup R2 is also found in a considerable percentage among Bengali of India. Sample size used was 87 subjects.
  A study in 2007 found similar frequencies of the allele HLA-A*02 in sinhalese (7.4%) and North Indian subjects (6.7%). HLA-A*02 is a rare allele which has a relatively high frequency in North Indian populations and is considered to be a novel allele among the North Indian population. This suggests possible North Indian origin of the Sinhalese.
caption: Genetic distance of Sinhalese to other ethnic groups in the Indian Subcontinent according to an Alu Polymorphism analysis.
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