Genetic characterization of ethnically and geographically diverse populations via short tandem repeats (STRs) is relevant to various fundamental and applied areas of forensic genetics, population studies, and even molecular anthropology. In the present study, genetic polymorphisms of 15 autosomal STR loci were firstly obtained from 918 individuals (495 Nakhis and 423 Yis) residing in the foothills of the Himalayas. The cumulative powers of discrimination and probabilities of exclusion in the two studied ethnic groups were both larger than 0.999999999999999982 and 0.9999961, respectively. Genetic similarities and differences among 61 populations were subsequently investigated by pairwise Cavalli-Sforza genetic distance, multidimensional scaling plots, principal component analysis, and phylogenetic relationship reconstruction. Both Nakhi and Yi had the genetically close relationships with Yunnan Bai and distinct relationships with Xinjiang Turkic-speaking populations (Uyghur and Kazakh) and Vietnamese.
Keywords: Forensic genetics; Genetic polymorphism; Nakhi; Short tandem repeat (STR); Yi.