Populations of Latvia and Lithuania in the context of some Indo-European and non-Indo-European speaking populations of Europe and India: insights from genetic structure analysis

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship among Lithuanian, Latvian, Indian, and some other populations through a genome-wide data analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Limited data of Baltic populations were mostly compared with geographically closer modern and ancient populations in the past, but no previous investigation has explored their genetic relationships with distant populations, like the ones of India, in detail. To address this, we collected and merged genome-wide SNP data from diverse publicly available sources to create a comprehensive dataset with a substantial sample size especially from Lithuanians and Latvians. Principal component analysis (PCA) and admixture analysis methods were employed to assess the genetic structure and relationship among the populations under investigation. Additionally, we estimated an effective population size (Ne) and divergence time to shed light on potential past events between the Baltic and Indian populations. To gain a broader perspective, we also incorporated ancient and modern populations from different continents into our analyses. Our findings revealed that the Balts, unsurprisingly, have a closer genetic affinity with individuals from Indian population who speak Indo-European languages, compared to other Indian linguistic groups (such as speakers of Dravidian, Austroasiatic, and Sino-Tibetan languages). However, when compared to other populations from the European continent, which also speak Indo-European and some Uralic languages, the Balts did not exhibit a stronger resemblance to Indo-European-speaking Indians. In conclusion, this study provides an overview of the genetic relationship and structure of the populations investigated, along with insights into their divergence times.

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