Background: The population genetics investigation of STR loci in specific populations is the basic premise for forensic practice, and the AmpFlSTRTM IdentifilerTM Plus kit is still widely used in most forensic DNA laboratories.
Aim: To obtain more reliable and accurate population genetic data of 15 autosomal STRs in the Shandong Han population and explore the genetic relationship with 25 neighbouring Chinese populations.
Subjects and methods: A total of 5356 unrelated Chinese Han individuals from Shandong Province were genotyped using the IdentifilerTM Plus Kit. Allele frequencies and corresponding forensic statistical parameters were calculated. Population comparisons were further explored through the neighbour-joining tree and multidimensional scaling analysis.
Results: A total of 217 alleles were calculated, the allele frequencies spanned from 0.0001 to 0.5340. The combined discrimination power (CDP) and the combined probability of paternity (CPE) of 15 STR loci were 0.99999999999999998755 and 0.999994524, respectively. Population comparisons demonstrated that Shandong Han have genetic homogeneity with most Sino-Tibetan populations.
Conclusions: Our study updates the Shandong Han population database with a large sample size. These 15 STR loci in the Shandong Han population are more polymorphic and discriminatory than shown in previous data, which could be more applicable to personal identification and paternity testing, as well other population genetics studies.
Keywords: Forensic science; Shandong Han; genetic polymorphisms; short tandem repeat (STR).