The role of founder effect on genetic structure of the Lawa in Mae Hong Son province

Abstract

        Lawa is the local prehistoric people of Chiang Mai-Lamphun basin. The majority of Lawa people had been expelled to the border area between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son province by the Tai in the 13th century. According to the linguistic classification, Lawa language is grouped to the Austroasiatic family, Mon-Khmer subfamily. However, there are two Lawa language branches, Eastern Lawa in Chiang Mai and western Lawa in Mae Hong Son. Each Lawa village has their own dialect and some are 50 percent phonetic different from each other. This research aimed to investigate the genetic structure of the Western Lawa from Ban Pa Pae, Pa Pae sub-district, Mae Sarieng district, Mae Hong Son province using mitochondrial DNA hypervariable region I as a genetic marker. The correlation between linguistic relatedness and genetic relationship of the Lawa was investigated. A high degree of genetic diversity was observed in the Lawa ethnic group which might be shaped by its old origin and the patrilocal post-marital residence culture. The founder effect in the Lawa from Ban Pa Pae leads to their genetic difference from other villages. Moreover, there was no correlation between linguistic relatedness and genetic relationship.