Population genetic study in Hungarian canine populations using forensically informative STR loci

Abstract

Allele frequencies for 10 short tandem repeats (STRs) were determined using the StockMarks® Dog Genotyping Kit (Applied Biosystems) from a pool of 668 unrelated dogs, consisting of 79 different breeds or breed variants from the Hungarian canine population. For the comparative statistical analysis, four pure bred, one mixed group - all individuals except from the four breeds - and considering to unequal representation of breeds the group of all pooled individuals ("All breeds") were distinguished. The forensically informative values - Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), observed heterozygosity (H(obs)), polymorphism information content (PIC), power of discrimination (PD), power of paternity exclusion (PE), linkage disequilibrium (LD) and fixation index (F) were determined. The Hungarian pure bred dog populations could be distinguished by comparing the allele frequency values using G-statistics and calculating the F(ST) indices with pair-wise comparisons of inter-population molecular variance (AMOVA). The results showed that these 10 loci can be adequate for individual identification in forensic cases even in relatively inbred dog populations.