Demogenetic Aspects of the Aimol Tribe of Manipur

The present work was carried out among the Aimol tribe of Manipur. They are one of the small tribal groups of Manipur. Till date no work based on molecular DNA work has been conducted among them. With this major goal the two complementary aspects of Anthropology i.e. demography and genetics were explored among the Aimol tribe of Manipur. The demographic data were collected from 310 ever married Aimol women from 3 districts of Manipur. Intravenous blood samples were collected from 52 unrelated individuals of both sexes with prior informed written consents. Each DNA samples were screened for autosomal, mtDNA and MTHFR polymephic sites. The present study provides evidence that Aimol tribe is a growing population. The fertility component is higher than the mortality component. The analysis of the autosomal and mtDNA haplogroups distribution infer that Aimol might have migrated to Manipur from East Asia through Myanmar which is in agreement with their mythological belief that they were migrated from Mongolia and China. This work will be helpful in a small measure for the policy makers, demographers and other medical and health research for further investigation.