Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India.
Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Birla Institute of Scientific Research Statue Circle, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
Genes Immun. 2022 Feb;23(1):47-50. doi: 10.1038/s41435-021-00150-8. Epub 2021 Oct 11.
The rapid expansion of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has impacted various ethnic groups all over the world. The burden of infectious diseases including COVID-19 are generally reported to be higher for the Indigenous people. The historical knowledge have also suggested that the indigenous populations suffer more than the general populations in the pandemic. Recently, it has been reported that the indigenous groups of Brazil have been massively affected by COVID-19. Series of studies have shown that many of the indigenous communities reached at the verge of extinction due to this pandemic. Importantly, South Asia also has several indigenous and smaller communities, that are living in isolation. Till date, despite the two consecutive waves in India, there is no report on the impact of COVID-19 for indigenous tribes. Since smaller populations experiencing drift may have greater risk of such pandemic, we have analysed Runs of Homozygosity (ROH) among South Asian populations and identified several populations with longer homozygous segments. The longer runs of homozygosity at certain genomic regions may increases the susceptibility for COVID-19. Thus, we suggest extreme careful management of this pandemic among isolated populations of South Asia.
冠状病毒 SARS-CoV-2 的迅速传播已经影响到世界各地的各个种族。包括 COVID-19 在内的传染病负担通常被报告为原住民更高。历史知识也表明，在大流行期间，土著居民比一般人群遭受的痛苦更大。最近，据报道，巴西的原住民群体受到了 COVID-19 的严重影响。一系列研究表明，许多原住民社区因这场大流行而濒临灭绝。重要的是，南亚也有几个原住民和较小的社区，它们生活在与世隔绝的地方。迄今为止，尽管印度经历了两波疫情，但没有关于 COVID-19 对印度土著部落影响的报告。由于较小的漂移人口可能面临更大的此类大流行风险，我们分析了南亚人群中的纯合子（ROH），并确定了几个具有较长纯合子片段的人群。某些基因组区域较长的纯合子片段可能会增加对 COVID-19 的易感性。因此，我们建议对南亚与世隔绝的人群进行 COVID-19 的极端谨慎管理。
