Mutation rates for 29 short tandem repeat loci from the Ecuadorian population

Short tandem repeats (STRs) are sequences that involve repetitive units of 1-6 bp. Therefore, this study recently analyzed a total of 16,310 paternity tests performed from 2012 to 2017 in the Genetic Laboratory of Cruz Roja Ecuatoriana in which 523 mutations were identified in the STRs included in PowerPlex ® 16, PowerPlex® CS7, PowerPlex® Fusion, GlobalFiler® and VeriFiler® Systems Furthermore, among the identified mutations 80 were from maternal, 357 of them were from paternal inheritance and 86 were undetermined. Additionally, the highest number of mutation events occurred in FGA, D21S11 and D12S391. The observed mutational behavior has important implications in forensic DNA analysis for instance determine the exclusion criteria in paternity testing for the correct interpretation. Thus, this study presents the first report of STR's mutation rates for the Ecuadorian population.