Y chromosome STR allelic and haplotype diversity in a Rwanda population from East Central Africa

We have analyzed 17 Y-chromosomal STR loci in a population sample of 69 unrelated male individuals of the Rwanda-Hutu population from East Central Africa using an AmpFlSTR® Yfiler™ PCR amplification kit. A total of 62 unique haplotypes were identified among the 69 individuals studied. The haplotype diversity was found to be 0.9970 for this population. The gene diversity ranged from 0.1130 (DYS392) to 0.7722 (DYS385). Comparison of populations in this study with twenty-five other national and global populations using Principal Co-ordinate Analysis (PCA) and phylogenetic molecular analysis using a genetic distance matrix indicates a delineation of all the African populations from other unrelated populations. The results of population pair-wise Fst p values indicate statistically significant differentiation of the Rwandan population when compared with 25 other global populations including four African populations (p = 0.0000). Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) of the Rwanda population with four other African populations indicated a 93% variance within populations and 7% variance among the five populations. A data base search of the 62 haplotypes yielded only one non-African haplotype match, suggesting these haplotypes are unique to the African continent.