Genetic diversity of 17 Y-short tandem repeats in Indian population

Seventeen short tandem repeats (DYS389I, DYS390, DYS389II, DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS393, DYS391, DYS392, DYS439, DYS438, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, Y(GATA)H4, DYS437, and DYS448) from the non-recombining region of the human Y-chromosome were analyzed in 750 unrelated males representing four major linguistic families of India using AmpFlSTR® Yfiler® PCR Amplification kit. A total of 612 distinct haplotypes were observed, of which 545 were unique. Rare alleles for the loci DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, Y(GATA)H4, and duplication at the loci DYS389I and DYS389II were also observed. To understand the genetic diversity of the Indian population, and utility of Y-STRs in forensics, the locus diversity, haplotype diversity, and discrimination capacity in all populations was determined. MDS plot based on pairwise Φst and AMOVA revealed the high genetic heterogeneity among the Indian populations due to linguistic diversity and social stratification.