Human Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in a Kurdish population sample.

In an Iraqi Kurdish population sample (n = 101), seven polymorphic STR loci of the Y-chromosome (DYS19, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, and DXYS156-Y) were typed, with DYS389 being subtyped for its four segments. The haplotype diversity was 97.83% and 82 different haplotypes were observed. The Kurds shared some Y-types with neighbouring south Turks but strikingly few with Germans: it is 20-30 times more likely to find a sequence match in a random pair of Kurds than in a random Kurd-German pair.