A breakthrough paleogenomic study led by the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics has sequenced the DNA of Mesolithic remains discovered in the central Deccan Plateau. Published in Nature Communications, the research identifies a specific cluster of HLA alleles that provided early hunter-gatherer populations with enhanced resistance to endemic tropical fevers. This genetic adaptation appears to have occurred shortly after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum as the region became increasingly humid.
The study marks the oldest successful genomic reconstruction from the Indian interior, offering a rare glimpse into the 'ghost lineages' that inhabited the peninsula before the major Neolithic migrations. These findings suggest that the ancestors of modern peninsular populations possessed a highly specialized immune system tailored to the unique pathogen landscape of the Indian subcontinent's forest-savanna biomes.