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

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.