Genetic diversities of 21 non-CODIS autosomal STRs of a Chinese Tibetan ethnic minority group in Lhasa

In the present study, we investigated 21 short tandem repeat (STR) loci (D6S474, D12ATA63, D22S1045, D10S1248, D1S1677, D11S4463, D1S1627, D3S4529, D2S441, D6S1017, D4S2408, D19S433, D17S1301, D1GATA113, D18S853, D20S482, D14S1434, D9S1122, D2S1776, D10S1435, D5S2500), which are not included in the Combined DNA Index System and Amelogenin locus in 104 randomly selected healthy autochthonous individuals from the Tibetan ethnic minority group residing in the Lhasa region, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Allelic frequencies, common forensic statistical parameters, and the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in this population were calculated with a modified PowerState V12.xls. A total of 143 alleles were found in the Tibetan group with corresponding allelic frequencies ranging from 0.005 to 0.582. The observed heterozygosity, the expected heterozygosity, the power of discrimination, the power of exclusion, and the polymorphic information content ranged from 0.615 to 0.817, 0.559 to 0.787, 0.727 to 0.926, 0.310 to 0.632, and 0.488 to 0.760, respectively. Chi-square tests of the observed genotype frequencies and expected genotype frequencies in the samples showed no departure from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium at all loci except for D5S2500. Our results demonstrate that these 21 STRs are highly polymorphic and suitable for anthropological research, population genetics, and forensic paternity testing and human individual identification in this region, and can enrich Chinese ethnical genetic informational resources.