Allele frequencies and haplotypes for 28 Y-STRs in Ovambo population

Polymorphisms at 17 Y-STR loci in Botswana populations

Seventeen Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (YSTRs)-DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS385a/b, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, and Y-GATA-H4-were analyzed in 252 unrelated male individuals from Botswana. A total of 238 unique haplotypes were identified. The discrimination capacity (DC) was 0.9444 whereas the haplotype diversity (HD) was 0.9990. A database search of the 238 unique haplotypes in the Y chromosome haplogroup database (YHRD) yielded three African American, six Sub-Saharan African, and two admixed South American matches. Five additional African-American matches were detected in the Applied Biosystems Y-STR database. RST, multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) and AMOVA were used to investigate population differentiation in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Botswana. The populations in Sub-Saharan Africa were found to be heterogeneous, with Botswana showing significant differences from its neighbors. No geographic regional or ethnic differentiation was observed within Botswana. Regional and ethnic variation can be useful in forensic working hypotheses.

Y-STR diversity and sex-biased gene flow among Caribbean populations

In the present study, we report, for the first time, the allele and haplotype frequencies of 17 Y-STR (Y-filer) loci in the populations of Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas (Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Long Island and New Providence). This investigation was undertaken to assess the paternal genetic structure of the abovementioned Caribbean islands. A total of 607 different haplotypes were identified among the 691 males examined, of which 537 (88.5%) were unique. Haplotype diversities (HD) ranged from 0.989 in Long Island to 1.000 in Grand Bahama, with limited haplotype sharing observed among these Caribbean collections. Discriminatory capacity (DC) values were also high, ranging from 79.1% to 100% in Long Island and Grand Bahama, respectively, illustrating the capacity of this set of markers to differentiate between patrilineal related individuals within each population. Phylogenetic comparison of the Bahamian, Haitian and Jamaican groups with available African, European, East Asian and Native American populations reveals strong genetic ties with the continental African collections, a finding that corroborates our earlier work using autosomal STR and Y-chromosome binary markers. In addition, various degrees of sex-biased gene flow exhibiting disproportionately higher European paternal (as compared to autosomal) influences were detected in all Caribbean islands genotyped except for Abaco and Eleuthera. We attribute the presence or absence of asymmetric gene flow to unique, island specific demographic events and family structures.

Y chromosome STR allelic and haplotype diversity in five ethnic Tamil populations from Tamil Nadu, India

We have analyzed 17 Y chromosomal STR loci in a population sample of 154 unrelated male individuals of the Tamil ethnic group residing in the state of Tamil Nadu, Southern India using AmpFlSTR(R) Yfiler PCR amplification kit. The population samples consist of the following castes: Kongu Gounder (KOG), Nadar Hindu (NAH), Agamudayar (AGA), Parayar (PAR) and other Tamil individuals (MCT) of mixed castes. A total of 152 unique haplotypes were identified among the 154 individuals studied. The haplotype diversity was found to be 0.9935 or higher for all the five groups. The results of population pairwise Fst p values indicate no statistically significant differentiation between the five populations in this study, but the results were highly significant when compared with 12 other global populations (p<0.05). Comparison of populations in this study with other national and global populations using Principal co-ordinate analysis (PCA) using Rst distance matrix indicates a delineation of all the Indian populations from other unrelated populations.