Genetic analysis of 29 Y-STR loci in the Chinese Han population from Shanghai

The analysis of Y chromosomal short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) provides important information that can be used to forensic investigation and population studies. In this study, typing of 29 Y-STRs included in the PowerPlex® Y23 system (PPY23) and Yfiler™ Plus system (Yfiler plus) was performed on 843 unrelated male samples from Han population in Shanghai. Besides null, duplicate, and intermediate alleles reported in previous studies, an allele of 10 at DYS643 with a 2-base deletion in the flanking region was initially observed. The gene diversity (GD) values of the 29 Y-STRs range from 0.4186 at DYS438 to 0.9653 at DYS385a/b. The haplotype diversity of two commonly used haplotype sets, PPY23 set and Yfiler plus set is 0.999980 and 0.999997, respectively. Pairwise genetic distances between Han population in Shanghai and other Han populations estimated using Yfiler plus set are slightly larger than that between other Han populations. Visualization of pairwise genetic distances between 17 worldwide populations using multidimensional scaling (MDS) demonstrates the distribution of populations according to their ethno-geographic patterns. Compared with Yfiler set, Yfiler plus set appears to have a relatively high population discrimination capacity for these tested populations. Altogether, these results can provide useful information of Y-STRs for forensic investigation and population studies.