Is there a pattern of gene differentiation in the Indian populations

Indian populations divided into a number of endogamous groups consisting of different castes, languages, religions, and tribes provide unique opportunities for examining the extent and nature of genetic differentiation at a microevolutionary stage. The genetic relationships between some of these Indian population groups have been examined using electrophoretic data from several biochemical loci in a gene diversity analysis. Does this type of analysis provide any insight into what causes such gene differentiation? What patterns of genetic variation emerge from these empirical findings? Answers are sought by relating the observed heterozygosity, genetic distance, and allied statistics to a mutation-drift hypothesis. The statistics used are: (1) interlocus mean and variance of heterozygosity, (2) mean and variance of genetic distance, and (3) correlation of heterozygosity and gene identity. The observed relationships between these sets of statistics agree well with the ones predicted by the hypothesis that different alleles at protein loci are selectively equivalent and gene frequency change occurs predominantly due to genetic drift.