part of India (AMD, JBL and BDN) showed comparative less differentiation
and high migration rate as compared to those from North (RTK)
and South (TVD) of the India (Table 6). The highest gene flow (Nm)
was found between AMD & JBL (6.02) and JBL & BDN (4.60) which
have a geographic distance of 901 km and 1021 km, respectively. The
differentiation estimates suggested isolation by distance in the populations
asminimumNm valuewas found in RTK & TVD (1.17) which have
a geographic distance of 2454 kmbetween them (Table 2). Thiswas further
supported by Mantle's test which revealed a significant and positive
correlation between the FST and geographic distance suggesting
that geographic distance is playing major role in the genetic
differentiation (Fig. 5). It is generally assumed that the population
pairs having minimum geographic distance should have high gene
flowbetween them. However, the population of JBL & HYD having minimum
geographic distance (776.9 km) between them does not show
the expected maximum gene flow indicating presence of some geographical
barrier in between them.
The Vindhya and Satpura mountain ranges which divide Indian
subcontinent into northern and southern regions might have an impact
in prevention of gene flow. Similarly, Nilgiri mountain range
passes between HYD and TVD. No other geographical barrier is
known to exist between any other populations in the present