Reconstructing the population history of the Sinhalese, the major ethnic group in Sri($)over-bar Lanka($)over-bar

The Sinhalese are the major ethnic group in Sri lanka, inhabiting nearly the whole length and breadth of the island. They speak an Indo-European language of the Indo-Iranian branch, which is held to originate in northwestern India, going back to at least the fifth century BC. Previous genetic studies on low-resolution markers failed to infer the genomic history of the Sinhalese population. Therefore, we have performed a high-resolution fine-grained genetic study of the Sinhalese population and, in the broader context, we at-tempted to reconstruct the genetic history of Srilanka. Our allele-frequency-based analysis showed a tight cluster of Sinhalese and Tamil populations, suggesting strong gene flow beyond the boundary of ethnicity and language. Interestingly, the haplotype-based analysis preserved a trace of the North Indian affiliation to the Sinhalese population. Overall, in the South Asian context, Srilankan ethnic groups are genetically more homogeneous than others.

Automated summary

The Sinhalese population in Sri Lanka has been genetically studied, revealing their homogeneity and a trace of North Indian affiliation.