Genetic profile characterization and population study of 21 autosomal STR in Chinese Kazak ethnic minority group

Short tandem repeat loci have been recognized as useful tools in the routine forensic application and in recent decades, more and more new short tandem repeat (STR) loci have been constantly discovered, studied, and applied in forensic caseworks. In this study, we investigated the genetic polymorphisms of 21 STR loci in the Kazak ethnic minority as well as the genetic relationships between the Kazak ethnic minority and other populations. Allelic frequencies of 21 STR loci were obtained from 114 unrelated healthy Kazak individuals in the Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region of China. We observed a total of 159 alleles in the group with the allelic diversity values ranging from 0.0044 to 0.5088. The highest polymorphism was found at D19S433 locus and the lowest was found at D1S1627. Statistical analysis of the generated data indicated no deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibriums at all 21 STR loci. In order to estimate the population differentiation, allelic frequencies of all STR loci of the Kazak were compared with those of other neighboring populations using analysis of molecular variance method. Statistically significant differences were found between the studied population and other populations at 2–7 STR loci. A neighbor‐joining tree was constructed based on allelic frequencies of the 21 STR loci and phylogenetic analysis indicates that the Kazak has a close genetic relationship with the Uigur ethnic group. The present results may provide useful information for forensic sciences and population genetics studies, and can also increase our understanding of the genetic background of this group. The present findings showed that all the 21 STR loci are highly genetically polymorphic in the Kazak group, which provided valuable population genetic data for the genetic information study, forensic human individual identification, and paternity tests.     

Population genetics and forensic efficiency of twenty‐one novel microsatellite loci of Chinese Yi ethnic group

In this study, we investigated polymorphic distributions of allelic frequencies and forensic genetic parameters of 21 novel autosomal microsatellite loci from 110 unrelated healthy individuals of Chinese Yi ethnic group. Expected heterozygosity, power of discrimination, and polymorphic information content ranged from 0.617 to 0.812, 0.777 to 0.936 and 0.560 to 0.790. The microsatellite loci showed high forensic efficiency. The total discrimination power and cumulate probability of exclusion were 0.99999999999999999986902 and 0.999998818, respectively. Locus‐by‐locus allelic frequencies were compared using analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) method, and the statistically significant differences were observed between Yi group and Russian, Tujia, Kazak, Bai, Ningxia Han, Salar, Tibetan, and Uigur groups at 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 12, and 13 loci, respectively. The results of genetic distance comparisons, genetic structure analyses, and principal component analysis all indicated that the Yi group showed relatively short genetic relationships with Russian, Salar, and Bai group. The experimental results showed that the 21 loci in the multiplex system provided highly polymorphic information and forensic efficiency for forensic individual identification and paternity testing, also basic population data for population genetics and anthropological research.     

Analysis of 17 Y‐STR loci haplotype and Y‐chromosome haplogroup distribution in five Chinese ethnic groups

To investigate genetic diversity in Chinese populations, 706 unrelated male individuals from five ethnic groups (Han, Korean, Hui, Mongolian, and Tibetan, respectively) were analyzed with 17 Y‐chromosomal STRs. The haplotype diversity was 0.99985 in the combined data. A total of 675 distinct haplotypes were observed, of which 649 were unique. Y‐chromosome haplogroups in the five groups were also predicted with Y‐STR haplotypes. Genetic distance between the five studied ethnic groups and other published groups was analyzed by analysis of molecular variance and visualized in a multidimensional scaling plot. In conclusion, the 17 Y‐STR loci are highly polymorphic markers in the five groups and hence are very useful in forensic application, population genetics, and human evolution studies.     

24 Y‐chromosomal STR haplotypic polymorphisms for Chinese Uygur ethnic group and its phylogenic analysis with other Chinese groups

The Uygur ethnic minority is the largest ethnic group in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, and is a precious resource for the study of ethnogeny and forensic biology. Previous studies have focused on the genetic background of the Uygur group, however, the patrilineal descent of the group is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the genetic diversity of 24 Y‐STR loci in the Uygur group and analyzed the population differentiations as well as the genetic relationships between the Uygur group and other previously reported populations using 17 Y‐filer loci. According to haplotypic analysis of the 24 Y‐STR loci in 109 Uygur individuals, 104 different haplotypes were obtained, 99 of which were unique. The haplotypic diversity and discrimination capacity of these 24 Y‐STR loci in Uygur group were 0.9992 and 0.9541, respectively. An additional 7 loci (DYS388, DYS444, DYS447, DYS449, DYS522, and DYS527a,b) showed high genetic diversity and improved the overall discrimination capacity of the 24 Y‐STR system. Pairwise Fst and neighbor‐joining analysis showed that the Uygur group was genetically close to the Han populations from different regions.     

Diversity study of 12 X‐chromosomal STR loci in Hui ethnic from China

X‐chromosomal STRs (X‐STRs) have been used as complements of autosomal STR application in recent years. In this work, we present population genetic data of 12 X‐STRs including DXS101, DXS10159, DXS10162, DXS10164, DXS6789, DXS7133, DXS7423, DXS7424, DXS8378, DXS981, GATA165B12, and GATA31E08 loci in a sample of 231 unrelated healthy individuals from the Hui ethnic group in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. Allelic frequencies of the 12 X‐STR loci and haplotypic frequencies of the reported linkage groups (DXS7424‐DXS101 and DXS10159‐DXS10164‐DXS10162) were investigated in the group, respectively. No STR loci showed significant deviations from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibriums and no linkage disequilibriums of pairwise loci were found after Bonferroni correction, respectively. A combined power of discrimination in female individuals was 0.999999999985 and that in male individuals was 0.99999967, respectively. The combined mean exclusion chance in deficiency cases, normal trios and duo cases were 0.999934, 0.995754, and 0.999796, respectively. Significant differences were observed from 0 to 8 loci, when making comparisons between the data of Hui ethnic group and previously reported data from other 16 populations. The results indicated the new panel of 12 X‐STR loci might be useful for forensic science application.     

Genetic polymorphisms of 20 short tandem repeat loci from the Han population in Henan,China

The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic polymorphism of 20 short tandem repeat (STR) loci including D1S1656, D2S1338, D3S1358, D5S818, D6S1043, D7S820, D8S1179, D12S391, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, CSF1PO, FGA, Penta D, Penta E, TH01, TPOX, and vWA in Han population of Henan, China and to assess its value in forensic science. Genomic DNA was extracted from 274 blood samples of unrelated healthy individuals in the Henan Han population. Alleles were amplified with PowerPlex® 21 system kit and PCR products were detected with ABI3130 genetic analyzer (Applied Biosystems) and the data were analyzed with modified PowerStats v1.2. A total of 229 alleles were observed in this Han population and the allelic frequencies ranged from 0.0020 to 0.5090 in the present study. Observed genotype distributions for each locus do not show deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium expectations (p < 0.05). The combined power of discrimination, combined power of exclusion, and combined matching probability of this 20 STR loci were 0.999999999, 0.999999994603, and 4.0433 × 10^?24, respectively. The 20 STR loci are highly polymorphic in the Han population of Henan, China and they may be of great value in forensic science and human population genetics.     

Genetic diversity and haplotype structure of 24 Y‐chromosomal STR in Chinese Hui ethnic group and its genetic relationships with other populations

In the present study, 24 Y‐chromosomal short tandem repeat (Y‐STR) loci were analyzed in 115 unrelated Hui male individuals from Haiyuan county or Tongxin county, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, to evaluate the forensic application of the 24 STR loci and to analyze interpopulation differentiations by making comparisons between the Hui group data and previously published data of other 13 populations. A total of 115 different haplotypes were observed on these 24 Y‐STR loci. The gene diversities ranged from 0.4049 (DYS437) to 0.9729 (DYS385a, b). The overall haplotype diversity was 1 at AGCU 24 Y‐STR loci level, while the values were reduced to 0.999237, 0.996949, and 0.996644 at the Y‐filer 17 loci, 11 Y‐STR loci of extended haplotype and 9 Y‐STR loci of minimal haplotype levels, respectively; whereas, haplotype diversity for additional 7 loci (not included in Y‐filer 17 loci) was 0.995271. The pairwise F_ST, multidimensional scaling plot and neighbor‐joining tree indicated the Hui group had the closest genetic relationship with Sala in the paternal lineage in the present study. In summary, the results in our study indicated the 24 Y‐STRs had a high level of polymorphism in Hui group and hence could be a powerful tool for forensic application and population genetic study.     

Design and validation of an STR hexaplex assay for DNA profiling of grapevine cultivars

Although the analysis of length polymorphism at STR loci has become a method of choice for grape cultivar identification, the standardization of methods for this purpose lags behind that of methods for DNA profiling in human and animal forensic genetics. The aim of this study was thus to design and validate a grapevine STR protocol with a practically useful level of multiplexing. Using free bioinformatics tools, published primer sequences, and nucleotide databases, we constructed and optimized a primer set for the simultaneous analysis of six STR loci (VVIi51, scu08vv, scu05vv, VVMD17, VrZAG47, and VrZAG83) by multiplex PCR and CE with laser‐induced fluorescence, and tested it on 90 grape cultivars. The new protocol requires subnanogram quantities of the DNA template and enables automated, high‐throughput genetic analysis with reasonable discriminatory power. As such, it represents a step toward further standardization of grape DNA profiling.     

A set of novel multi-allelic SNPs for forensic application developed through massively parallel sequencing and its examples of population genetic studies

Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technology allows to simultaneously type multitudinous molecular genetic markers for many samples in one run with the feature of high detection resolution, and thereby arouses the increasing attention from forensic science. Herein, multiple allelic single nucleotide polymorphisms (multi-allelic SNPs) were screened for personal identification and parentage testing, and then were genotyped using MPS platform. Unrelated individuals of Chinese Mongolian and Kazakh groups were investigated to further estimate forensic effectiveness and applicability of these multi-allelic SNPs. The results of sequencing efficiency estimations and forensic genetic statistical parameters demonstrated that this MPS panel of multi-allelic SNPs was expected to be work for forensic applications. Subsequently, the exploration of population genetic variation patterns among the two investigated groups and other 26 reference populations revealed that these Chinese Mongolian and Kazakh groups had the similar population genetic patterns with the populations from East Asian, but European ancestral composition in the Kazakh group was higher than that in the Mongolian group. Currently, the present results were the preliminary research to scrutinize genetic information of these two ethnic minority groups employing multi-allelic SNPs.     

Single nucleotide polymorphisms of mitochondrial DNA HVS‐I and HVS‐II in Chinese Bai ethnic group

For forensic and population genetic purposes, a total of 125 unrelated volunteers’ blood samples were collected from Chinese Bai ethnic minority group to analyze sequence variation of two hypervariable segments (HVS‐I and HVS‐II) in the mitochondrial DNA control region. Comparing the HVS‐I and HVS‐II sequences of the 125 Chinese Bais to the Anderson reference sequence, we found 86 polymorphic loci in HVS‐I and 40 in HVS‐II in mitochondrial DNA sequences of the Chinese Bai ethnic minority group, which defined 93 and 53 different haplotypes, respectively. Haplotype diversity and the mean pairwise differences were 0.992 ± 0.003 and 6.553 in HVS‐I, and 0.877 ± 0.027 and 2.407 in HVS‐II, respectively. We defined four macrohaplogroups R, M, N and D with the proportions ranging from 9.6% to 40.0%. With the analysis of the hypervariable domain from nucleotide 16 180–16 193 in HVS‐I, our study revealed new haplotypes of sequence variations. In addition, the Fst metric, phylogenetic tree, and principal component analysis demonstrated a close genetic relationship between the Bai group and Chinese Han populations from South China, Changsha, and Guangdong. The results support that the Bai group is a multiorigin ethnic minority that has merged with the Chinese Han population.     

Development of the 16 X‐STR loci typing system and genetic analysis in a Shanghai Han population from China

This study developed a new multiplex PCR system that simultaneously amplifies 16 X‐STR loci in the same PCR reaction, and the polymorphism and mutation rates of these 16 X‐STR loci were explored in a Shanghai Han population from China. These loci included DXS10134, DXS10159, DXS6789, DXS6795, DXS6800, DXS6803, DXS6807, DXS6810, DXS7132, DXS7424, DXS8378, DXS9902, GATA165B12, GATA172D05, GATA31E08, and HPRTB. Samples from 591 unrelated individuals (293 males and 298 females) and 400 two‐generation families were successfully analyzed using this multiplex system. Allele frequencies and mutation rates of the 16 loci were investigated, with the comparison of allele frequency distributions among different populations performed. Polymorphism information contents of these loci were all >0.6440 except the locus DXS6800 (0.4706). Nine cases of mutations were detected in the 16 loci from the investigation of 9232 meioses. Pairwise comparisons of allele frequency distributions showed significant differences for most loci among populations from different countries and ethnic groups but not among the Han population living in other areas of China. These results suggest that the 16 X‐STR loci system provides highly informative polymorphic data for paternity testing and forensic identification in the Han population in Shanghai, China, as a complementary tool.     

Mutation rate analysis at 19 autosomal microsatellites

Previous studies have demonstrated that a large sample size is needed to reliably estimate population‐ and locus‐specific microsatellite mutation rates. Therefore, we conducted a long‐term collaboration study and performed a comprehensive analysis on the mutation characteristics of 19 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci. The STR loci located on 15 of 22 autosomal chromosomes were analyzed in a total of 21 106 samples (11 468 parent–child meioses) in a Chinese population. This provided 217 892 allele transfers at 19 STR loci. An overall mutation rate of 1.20 × 10^?3 (95% CI, 1.06–1.36 × 10^?3) was observed in the populations across 18 of 19 STR loci, except for the TH01 locus with no mutation found. Most STR mutations (97.7%) were single‐step mutations, and only a few mutations (2.30%) comprised two and multiple steps. Interestingly, approximately 93% of mutation events occur in the male germline. The mutation ratios increased with the paternal age at child birth (r = 0.99, p<0.05), but not maternal age. Last, with the combination analysis of the data from the southern Chinese population, we drew a picture of 19 STR mutations in China. In conclusion, the data from this study will provide useful information in parentage testing, kinship analysis, and population genetics.     

Differential pre‐amplification of STR loci for fragmented forensic DNA profiling

DNA profiling of short tandem repeats (STR) has been successfully used for the identification of individuals in forensic samples, accidents and natural disasters. However, STR profiling of DNA isolated from old crime scenes and damaged biological samples is difficult due to DNA degradation and fragmentation. Here, we show that pre‐amplification of STR loci using biotinylated primers for the STR loci is an efficient strategy to obtain STR profiling results from fragmented forensic samples. Analysis of STR loci with longer amplicon sizes is generally hampered, since these relatively long loci are vulnerable to DNA fragmentation. This problem was overcome by using reduced or increased primer concentrations for loci with shorter or longer amplicon sizes, respectively, in our pre‐amplification strategy. In addition, pre‐amplification of STR loci into two groups of short or long amplicon size increases the efficiency of STR profiling from highly fragmented forensic DNA samples. Therefore, differential pre‐amplification of STR loci is an effective way to obtain DNA profiling results from fragmented forensic samples.     

Allele and haplotype diversity of new multiplex of 19 ChrX‐STR loci in Han population from Guanzhong region (China)

X‐chromosomal short tandem repeats (X‐STRs) have been proved to be useful for some deficiency paternity cases in recent years. Here, we studied the genetic polymorphisms of 19 X‐STR loci (DXS10148‐DXS10135‐DXS8378, DXS10159‐DXS10162‐DXS10164, DXS7132‐DXS10079‐DXS10074‐DXS10075, DXS6809‐DXS6789, DXS7424‐DXS101, DXS10103‐HPRTB‐DXS10101 and DXS7423‐DXS10134) in 252 male and 222 female individuals from Guanzhong Han population, China. No deviation for all 19 loci was observed from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. The polymorphism information content values of the panel of 19 loci were more than 0.5 with the exception of the locus DXS7423. The combined power of discrimination were 0.9999999999999999999994340 in females and 0.9999999999997662 in males, respectively; and the combined mean exclusion chances were 0.999999993764 in duos and 0.999999999997444 in trios, respectively. The haplotype diversities for all the seven clusters of linked loci were more than 0.9. The results showed that the panel of 19 X‐STR loci were powerful for forensic applications in Guanzhong Han population. Locus by locus population comparisons showed significant differences at more than seven loci between Guanzhong Han population and the groups from North America, Europe and Africa.     

Genetic polymorphisms in 12 autosomal STRs in a Shanghai Han population from China

In this study, a total of 484 unrelated healthy individuals and 359 two‐generation families in the Han population in Shanghai, China were successfully analyzed with the Investigator HDplex Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium tests demonstrated no significant deviation from expected values (p > 0.05) for the 12 autosomal STRs included in this kit. A total of 173 alleles were detected in 12 autosomal STR loci; the largest number of alleles (32) was detected for the SE33 locus. The combined power of discrimination was 0.99999999992. The combined mean exclusion chance in duo cases was 0.99982, whereas the combined mean exclusion chance in trio cases was 0.9999986. The average mutation rate across all loci was 0.0023 (95% confidence intervals: 0.0013–0.0039). These results suggest that the 12 autosomal STR loci can provide highly informative polymorphic data for paternity testing and forensic identification in the Han population in Shanghai, China.     

17 to 23: A novel complementary mini Y‐STR panel to extend the Y‐STR databases from 17 to 23 markers for forensic purposes

A Y‐STR multiplex system has been developed with the purpose of complementing the widely used 17 Y‐STR haplotyping (AmpFlSTR Y Filer® PCR Amplification kit) routinely employed in forensic and population genetic studies. This new multiplex system includes six additional STR loci (DYS576, DYS481, DYS549, DYS533, DYS570, and DYS643) to reach the 23 Y‐STR of the PowerPlex® Y23 System. In addition, this kit includes the DYS456 and DYS385 loci for traceability purposes. Male samples from 625 individuals from ten worldwide populations were genotyped, including three sample sets from populations previously published with the 17 Y‐STR system to expand their current data. Validation studies demonstrated good performance of the panel set in terms of concordance, sensitivity, and stability in the presence of inhibitors and artificially degraded DNA. The results obtained for haplotype diversity and discrimination capacity with this multiplex system were considerably high, providing further evidences of the suitability of this novel Y‐STR system for forensic purposes. Thus, the use of this multiplex for samples previously genotyped with 17 Y‐STRs will be an efficient and low‐cost alternative to complete the set of 23 Y‐STRs and improve allele databases for population and forensic purposes.     

Development of a new 25plex STRs typing system for forensic application

We have developed a novel STR 25‐plex florescence multiplex‐STR kit (DNATyper25) to genotype 23 autosomal and two sex‐linked loci for forensic applications and paternity analysis. Of the 23 autosomal loci, 20 are non‐CODIS. The sex‐linked markers include a Y‐STR locus (DYS391) and the Amelogenin gene. We present developmental validation studies to show that the DNATyper25 kit is reproducible, accurate, sensitive, and robust. Sensitivity testing showed that full profiles were achieved with as low as 125 pg of human DNA. Specificity testing demonstrated a lack of cross reactivity with a variety of commonly encountered non‐human DNA contaminants. Stability testing showed that full profiles were obtained with humic acid concentration ≤60 ng/μL and hematin concentration <400 μM. For forensic evaluation, the 23 autosomal STRs followed the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. In an analysis of 509 Chinese (CN) Hans, we detected a combined total of 181 alleles at the 23 autosomal STR loci. Since these autosomal STRs are independent from one another, PM was 8.4528 × 10^?22, TDP was 0.999 999 999 999 999 999 999, CEP was 0.999 999 8395. The forensic efficiency parameters demonstrated that these autosomal STRs are highly polymorphic and informative in the Han population of China. We performed population comparisons and showed that the Northern CN Han has a close genetic relationship with the Luzhou Han, Tujia, and Bai populations. We propose that the DNATyper25 kit will be useful for cases where paternity analysis is difficult and for situations where DNA samples are limited in quantity and low in quality.     

Development of a novel multiplex polymerase chain reaction system for forensic individual identification using insertion/deletion polymorphisms

Insertion/deletion (InDel) polymorphisms have been widely used in the fields of population genetics, genetic map constructions, and forensic investigations owing to the advantages of their low mutation rates, widespread distributions in the human genome, and small amplicon sizes. In order to provide more InDels with high discrimination power in Chinese populations, we selected and constructed one novel multiplex PCR‐InDel panel for forensic individual identification. Genetic distributions of these 35 InDels in five reference populations from East Asia showed low genetic differentiations among these populations. Forensic efficiency evaluations of these InDels revealed that these loci could perform well for forensic individual identifications in these reference populations. In the meantime, genetic diversities and forensic parameters of these InDels were further investigated in the studied Kazak group. Mean value of polymorphism information content for 35 InDels was 0.3611. Cumulative power of discrimination of 35 InDels was 0.99999999999999603 in Kazak group. Given these results, the panel is suitable for individual identifications in the studied Kazak and these reference populations.     

Short tandem repeat analysis in Japanese population

Short tandem repeats (STRs), known as microsatellites, are one of the most informative genetic markers for characterizing biological materials. Because of the relatively small size of STR alleles (generally 100-350 nucleotides), amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is relatively easy, affording a high sensitivity of detection. In addition, STR loci can be amplified simultaneously in a multiplex PCR. Thus, substantial information can be obtained in a single analysis with the benefits of using less template DNA, reducing labor, and reducing the contamination. We investigated 14 STR loci in a Japanese population living in Sendai by three multiplex PCR kits, GenePrint PowerPlex 1.1 and 2.2. Fluorescent STR System (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) and AmpF/STR Profiler (Perkin-Elmer, Norwalk, CT, USA). Genomic DNA was extracted using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) proteinase K or Chelex 100 treatment followed by the phenol/chloroform extraction. PCR was performed according to the manufacturer's protocols. Electrophoresis was carried out on an ABI 377 sequencer and the alleles were determined by GeneScan 2.0.2 software (Perkin-Elmer). In 14 STRs loci, statistical parameters indicated a relatively high rate, and no significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was detected. We apply this STR system to paternity testing and forensic casework, e.g., personal identification in rape cases. This system is an effective tool in the forensic sciences to obtain information on individual identification.     

Developmental validation of the Microreader™ 20A ID system

The Microreader? 20A ID system is designed for forensic applications such as personal identification, parentage testing, and research. It includes 13 combined DNA index system (CODIS) short tandem repeat (STR) loci (CSF1PO, FGA, TH01, TPOX, vWA, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, and D21S11), three expanded CODIS STR loci (D12S391, D19S433, and D2S1338), three non‐CODIS STR loci (D6S1043, Penta D, and Penta E), and the amelogenin locus in one reaction with a six‐dye fluorescent (FAM, HEX, TAMAR, ROX, PUR, and QD550) analysis system. In this study, the Microreader? 20A ID system was validated according to the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods validation guidelines for forensic DNA Analysis methods and Chinese national standard, including PCR‐based studies, sensitivity study, precision, and accuracy evaluation, stutter calculation, inhibitor tests, species specificity, and DNA mixture studies. Our results suggest that the Microreader? 20A ID system is a useful tool for personal identification and parentage testing.