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Distinct diversity of KIR genes in three southern Indian populations: comparison with world populations revealed a link between KIR gene content and pre-historic human migrations

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Abstract

By interacting with polymorphic HLA class I molecules, the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) influence the innate and adaptive immune response to infection. The KIR family varies in gene content and sequence polymorphism, thereby, distinguishing individuals and populations. To investigate KIR diversity in the earliest settlers of India, we have characterized the KIR gene content in three Dravidian-speaking populations (Mollukurumba, Kanikar, and Paravar) from the state of Tamil Nadu, southern India. The activating KIR genes and putative group-B KIR haplotypes were frequent in Paravar and Kanikar, a scenario analogous to those seen previously in other populations of Indian origin, indicating that predominance of group-B KIR haplotypes is the characteristic feature of Indian populations. In contrast, the KIR gene profile of Mollukurumba was more related to Caucasian type. It is not clear whether a local-specific selection or a recent admixture from Iran is responsible for such discrete profile in Mollukurumba. Each southern Indian population had distinct KIR genotype profile. Comparative analyses with world populations revealed that group-B KIR haplotypes were frequent in the natives of India, Australia, and America, the populations associated with those involved in extensive prehistoric human migrations. Whether or not natural selection has acted to enrich group-B KIR haplotypes in these migratory descendants is an issue that requires objective testing.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by start-up funds from the UCLA Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (to R.R.) and by Northern Ireland Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Charitable Trust funds (to D.M.). We thank G. Ashokan, Nilgiri Adivasi Welfare association for his help in sampling the Mollukurumba population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCLA Immunogenetics Center, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Raja Rajalingam, Zeying Du, Lihui Luo & Elaine F. Reed

  2. Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, 110 029, India

    Surendra K. Sharma

  3. Department of Immunology, Center for Excellence in Genomic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 625 021, Tamil Nadu, India

    Valampuri John Kavitha, Rajamanickam Pavithra-Arulvani, Arumugam Vidhyalakshmi & Ramasamy M. Pitchappan

  4. Northern Ireland Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratory, Blood Transfusion Building, City Hospital, Belfast, BT9 7TS, Northern Ireland

    Ashley Meenagh & Derek Middleton

  5. Tepnel Lifecodes Corporation, Stamford, CT, 06902, USA

    Ivan Balazs

  6. UCLA Immunogenetics Center, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California at Los Angeles, 1000 Veteran Avenue, Room no. 1-536, P.O. Box 951652, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1652, USA

    Raja Rajalingam

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  1. Raja Rajalingam
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Correspondence to Raja Rajalingam.

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Rajalingam, R., Du, Z., Meenagh, A. et al. Distinct diversity of KIR genes in three southern Indian populations: comparison with world populations revealed a link between KIR gene content and pre-historic human migrations. Immunogenetics 60, 207–217 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-008-0286-2

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