Polymorphism analysis of 15 STR loci in a large sample of Guangdong (Southern China) Han population

•The PD of D6S1043 and D12S391 was 0.9716 and 0.9585 in Guangdong Han population.•A total of 243 alleles were observed and some rare alleles were detected.•The highest polymorphism was found at D6S1043 and the lowest was found at D3S1358.•Our samples had significant differences compared with some reported populations.

AmpFℓSTR Sinofiler PCR Amplification Kit is specially developed for Chinese forensic laboratories, but there are little population-genetic data about this kit for Southern China. This kit contains 15 STR loci: D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, vWA, D18S51, D6S1043, D12S391, D5S818 and FGA. We have conducted genotyping experiments on the 15 STR loci in 5234 unrelated individuals from Guangdong (Southern China). We observed a total of 243 alleles in the group with the allelic frequency values ranging from less than 0.0001 to 0.3686. Our statistic analysis indicates that the 15 STR loci conform to the Hardy–Weinberg’s equilibrium (p > 0.05). The highest polymorphism was found at D6S1043 locus and the lowest was found at D3S1358. The combined power of discrimination reached 0.99999999999999999977431 and the combined probability of paternity exclusion reached 0.999999721 for 15 STR loci. Guangdong Han population had significant differences compared with Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan province of Northern China. A Neighbor-joining tree indicates that the Guangdong Han has a close genetic relationship with the Yunnan population. Significant differences were found between Guangdong Han population and other reported populations (Japanese, Philippine, African American, Caucasian, Hispanic and Western Romanian) at 2–11 STR loci. The results may provide useful information for forensic sciences and population genetics studies. The present findings indicate that all the 15 STR loci are highly genetically polymorphic in the Han population of Guangdong.

Graphical abstractNeighbor-joining tree based on Fst distances estimated among the seven populations.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (25 K)Download as PowerPoint slide