Allele frequencies of fifteen STRs in a representative sample of the Italian population.

Fifteen autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) markers (D3S1358, HUMTH01, D21S11, D18S51, Penta E, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, CSF1PO, Penta D, HUMvWA, D8S1179, HUMTPOX and FGA) were analyzed in more than 400 unrelated individuals from nine different areas of Italy. After Bonferroni correction, no evidence of population structure was identified, either by considering each population as independent or by combining populations according to their geographic origin (North, Central and South of Italy). Forensic indexes were estimated considering all samples together. Combined power of discrimination (PD) and combined power of exclusion (PE) for the 15 tested STR loci were 0.9999999997 and 0.964708775, respectively. Low genetic distances were found between our data and those previously published for other neighboring European populations.