MAPPING THE NATURAL VARIATION OF GLOBAL POPULATIONS

Abstract

The use of “Asian” as a racial definition is common in the social sciences and medical communities. Populations located within a pre-defined geographical location have commonly been attached to the same population label. This thesis aims to map the degree of natural variation amongst Asian populations, using different biological molecular states which include genomics, transcriptomics, and lipidomics. Our findings revealed that the heterogeneity of natural variation (i) observed between Indians and non-Indians (Malays and Chinese) is not solely limited to genomics but also at the transcriptome and the lipidome levels; (ii) existed between populations located within Japan – Okinawan and mainland Japanese; (iii) seen greater between Malays and Malaysia indigenous populations, than between Malays and Chinese. These findings further highlight that the broad population labels may not be appropriate, different populations omics data allowed detailed population genetics inference to be made and could act as the control groups for disease-related studies.