Allelic frequency distributions of 21 non-combined DNA index system STR loci in a Russian ethnic minority group from Inner Mongolia, China

Allelic frequency distributions of 21 non-combined DNA index system STR loci in a Russian ethnic minority group from Inner Mongolia, China 1 2 3 first-author 4 1 1 5 6 7 1 corresp ‡Corresponding Author ‡Corresponding Author †E-mail:zhubofeng@mail.xjtu.edu.cn †E-mail:zhubofeng@mail.xjtu.edu.cn zhubofeng@mail.xjtu.edu.cn School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, China School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, China People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450003, China People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450003, China Medical Genetic Institute of Henan Province, People’s Hospital of Henan Province, Zhengzhou 450003, China Medical Genetic Institute of Henan Province, People’s Hospital of Henan Province, Zhengzhou 450003, China Blood Center of Shaanxi Province, Xi’an 710061, China Blood Center of Shaanxi Province, Xi’an 710061, China Vascular Biology Center, Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA Vascular Biology Center, Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, China Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, China Department of Internal Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA Department of Internal Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA We studied the allelic frequency distributions and statistical forensic parameters of 21 new short tandem repeat (STR) loci and the amelogenin locus, which are not included in the combined DNA index system (CODIS), in a Russian ethnic minority group from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. A total of 114 bloodstain samples from unrelated individuals were extracted and co-amplified with four fluorescence-labeled primers in a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system. Using capillary electrophoresis, the PCR products of the 21 STR loci were separated and genotyped. A total of 161 alleles were observed in the Russian ethnic minority group, and corresponding allelic frequencies ranged from 0.0044 to 0.5965. The 21 non-CODIS STR loci of the Russian ethnic minority group were characterized by high genetic diversity and therefore may be useful for elucidating the population’s genetic background, for individual identification, and for paternity testing in forensic practice. Short tandem repeat (STR) Russian population Genetic polymorphisms Introduction 1 As common polymorphic DNA genetic markers, short tandem repeats (STRs) have applications in many areas including population genetics studies, allogeneic bone marrow transplantation engraftment diagnostic tests, and individual discrimination in forensic science (Hammond et al., 1994 1994 ; Zhu et al., 2005 2005 ). The AmpFLSTR® Identifiler® polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kit (Applied Biosystems by Life Technologies, USA) and the PowerPlex® 16 System kit (Promega, USA) are widely employed in forensic science and anthropological research. Both of these multiplex systems include 13 core STR loci designated by the combined DNA index system (CODIS) and can meet the general requirements for forensic identification. However, in paternity identification cases without mother or father samples, or those with STR loci mutation events, more STR loci are needed. In this study, we used an AGCU 21+1 fluorescence amplification assay kit (Zhongde-Meilian ScienTech Inc., China) to investigate the allelic frequencies of 21 non-CODIS autosomal STR loci (D1GATA113, D1S1627, D1S1677, D2S441, D2S1776, D3S4529, D4S2408, D5S2500, D6S474, D6S1017, D9S1122, D10S1248, D10S1435, D11S4463, D12ATA63, D14S1434, D17S1301, D18S853, D19S433, D20S482, and D22S1045) in 114 unrelated healthy Russian individuals residing in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. The Russian ethnic group exists mainly in Europe and is one of the largest groups in the world. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, many Russians belonging to the White Army moved to China. Nowadays, this Russian minority is an ethnic group officially recognized by China. About 15 600 people of the minority live mostly in Inner Mongolia Province, and others in the northern provinces of Heilongjiang and Xinjiang. We studied the genetic polymorphism of a new panel of STR markers (21 STR loci) which are different from the 13 core STR loci of CODIS. We evaluated, in this Russian population, their detection effectiveness for forensic testing and anthropological research and calculated forensic statistical parameters of the 21 new STR loci. Some researchers have studied the characteristics and genetic diversity of 15 STR loci, including the 13 core STR loci from CODIS, in the Russian population residing in China (Lu et al., 2005 2005 ; 2006 2006 ; Zhu et al., 2010 2010 ). Therefore, we also present a comparison between the forensic parameters of the previous study (13 CODIS loci) and those of the present study (21 new non-CODIS loci). Materials and methods 1 Sample collection and DNA extraction 2 We randomly selected 114 healthy unrelated individuals from the Russian population residing in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China, following the guidelines of the human and ethical research principles of School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. Before sample collection, all the participants were asked to give their informed written consent and to complete the required questionnaires under the guidance of medical staff assistants. Individuals whose ancestors had been living in the region for more than three generations were selected from among participants and individuals having no common ancestry tracing back more than three generations were selected for the study. Genomic DNA was extracted using the Chelex-100 procedure from bloodstain samples as described by Walsh et al. ( 1991 1991 ). PCR amplification and STR typing 2 We used the AGCU 21+1 fluorescence amplification assay kit (Zhongde-Meilian ScienTech Inc., China) to co-amplify the 21 autosomal STR loci and the Amelogenin locus in a multiplex PCR system. Multiplex PCR was performed in a 25-μl volume consisting of 0.5–2.0 ng of genomic DNA, 0.5 μl HS-Taq DNA polymerase, 5 μl 21+1 primer sets, 10 μl reaction mix, and 8.5 μl double-distilled water (ddH 2 O). PCR thermocycling was programmed under the following conditions: (1) an initial hot start at 95 °C for 11 min; (2) 10 cycles of 60 s at 94 °C, 60 s at 62 °C, and 60 s at 72 °C; (3) 20 cycles of 90 °C for 60 s, 60 s at 60 °C, and 60 s at 72 °C; (4) a final extension of 60 min at 60 °C. The whole process was performed on a GeneAmp PCR 9600 (Applied Biosystems by Life Technologies, USA) thermal cycler. The mixture for capillary electrophoresis included 1 μl PCR product, 0.5 μl AGCU Marker SIZ-500 internal lane standard (Zhongde-Meilian ScienTech Inc., China), and 12 μl Hi-Di formamide. Before capillary electrophoresis, the mixture was denatured at 95 °C for 3 min, and then immediately chilled on ice for 3 min. Electrophoretic separation and allelic detection of all the PCR-STR products were achieved using an ABI3130XL DNA genetic analyzer (Applied Biosystems by Life Technologies, USA), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Allelic identification was determined by comparing the sample PCR-STR fragments with the AGCU Marker SIZ-500 internal lane standard and the allelic ladders provided by the kit, using GeneMapper ID V4.0 software. The alleles of all STR loci were named using the number of repeat units, as recommended by the DNA Commission of the Society for Forensic Genetics (Bär et al., 1997 1997 ). Positive control DNA (9947A) included in the kit and negative control (ddH 2 O) were genotyped for quality control in all experiments. All experimental steps were performed according to the experimental control standards of the Laboratory. Statistical analysis 2 Allelic frequencies, forensic parameters including the observed heterozygosity (HO), expected heterozygosity (HE), typical paternity index (PI), matching probability (MP), power of discrimination (PD), polymorphism information content (PIC), probability of paternity exclusion (PE), and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium tests of these 21 STR loci were computed using the modified PowerStat (Version 1.2) spreadsheet (Promega, USA) as described by Tereba ( 1999 1999 ). Locus-by-locus allelic frequencies were compared between our population data and those of previously published studies using the analysis of molecular variance method (AMOVA; based on F -statistics) in GENEPOP software V4.0.10 ( http://genepop.curtin.edu.au/ http://genepop.curtin.edu.au/ ), which was also used to estimate the linkage disequilibrium (LD) tests for each two STR loci. Results and discussion 1 Clear gene typing profiles of the 21 autosomal STRs were obtained from all 114 samples from healthy unrelated Russian individuals in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. The allelic frequency data and the statistical forensic parameters of the 21 autosomal STRs, based on the genotypes of the 114 samples, are listed in Table 1 1 . For the 21 STR loci examined, the combined probability of exclusion was 0.999 999 377, the total power of discrimination was 0.999 999 999 999 999 999 963 546, and the combined probability of matching was 3.6454×10 −20 . The parameters of these new loci were compared with those of the 13 core STR loci from CODIS from the same Russian population (Zhu et al., 2010 2010 ). The heterozygosity parameters of most of the 21 STR markers are comparable to those of the CODIS loci. Only the D22S1045 locus was found to have a lower value than the CODIS loci and to present a deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium ( P < 0.05). El Ossmani et al. ( 2007 2007 ) suggested that unusual mutations or possible genetic drift could likely change the allelic distribution in some loci but could not change it in all. Matrimonial behavior in this population could also lead to the observed disequilibrium (El Ossmani et al., 2009 2009 ). MP: matching probability; PD: power of discrimination; PIC: polymorphism information content; PE: probability of parternity exclusion; HE: expected heterozygosity; PI: typical paternity index; HO: observed heterozygosity; P : probability values of the exact test for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium 2 STR loci 12 Allele frequency 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 11.3 12 12.2 13 13.2 D6S474 D12ATA63 0.2939 0.0175 D22S1045 0.0263 0.1754 0.0044 D10S1248 0.0044 0.0833 0.3509 D1S1677 0.0044 0.0263 0.1009 D11S4463 0.0044 0.0526 0.2763 D1S1627 0.0526 0.0219 0.0658 0.0658 0.5965 D3S4529 0.0044 0.1579 D2S441 0.0044 0.0219 0.2018 0.4167 0.0219 0.1754 0.0219 D6S1017 0.0044 0.2412 0.0307 0.3860 0.0614 0.2237 0.0439 D4S2408 0.0044 0.1930 0.2632 0.3377 0.1711 0.0307 D19S433 0.0044 0.0526 0.0132 0.3070 0.0219 D17S1301 0.0088 0.0175 0.0526 0.1886 0.443 0.2237 D1GATA113 0.4386 0.0132 0.0088 0.1535 0.3246 0.0614 D18S853 0.0044 0.4079 0.0746 0.2105 D20S482 0.0395 0.0088 0.0482 0.2763 D14S1434 0.0789 0.1535 0.0570 0.2456 D9S1122 0.0088 0.0746 0.1754 0.3421 0.3421 D2S1776 0.0088 0.1009 0.0921 0.2982 0.3553 0.1184 D10S1435 0.0044 0.0044 0.0132 0.0482 0.1404 0.3991 0.2719 D5S2500 13 13 2 STR loci 12 Allele frequency 13.3 14 14.2 14.3 15 15.2 16 16.2 17 17.2 18 19 13 D6S474 0.4035 0.0044 0.2632 0.1579 0.1447 0.0263 D12ATA63 0.0395 0.0175 0.1623 0.3860 0.0746 0.0044 D22S1045 0.0746 0.2632 0.2763 0.1579 0.0219 D10S1248 0.2719 0.2061 0.0658 0.0175 D1S1677 0.4912 0.2807 0.0789 0.0044 0.0132 D11S4463 0.2982 0.2237 0.1272 0.0175 D1S1627 0.2544 0.0088 D3S4529 0.2895 0.3333 0.1579 0.0570 D2S441 0.0044 0.1140 0.0175 D6S1017 0.0088 D4S2408 D19S433 0.2237 0.0921 0.0789 0.1272 0.0132 0.0482 0.0175 D17S1301 0.0658 D1GATA113 D18S853 0.2325 0.0702 D20S482 0.3596 0.1974 0.0702 D14S1434 0.3640 0.0833 0.0175 D9S1122 0.0482 0.0044 0.0044 D2S1776 0.0219 0.0044 D10S1435 0.0132 0.0877 0.0175 D5S2500 0.4605 0.2544 0.2018 0.0044 13 13 2 STR loci 4 Allele frequency 2 MP 2 PD 2 PIC 2 PE 2 PI 2 HO 2 HE 2 P 20 21 23 24 13 D6S474 0.1248 0.8752 0.6761 0.3786 1.5000 0.6667 0.7213 0.1668 D12ATA63 0.0044 0.1079 0.8921 0.6884 0.5023 1.9655 0.7456 0.7306 0.7751 D22S1045 0.0786 0.9214 0.7609 0.4447 1.7273 0.7105 0.7919 0.0246 D10S1248 0.1167 0.8833 0.7083 0.6287 2.7143 0.8158 0.7488 0.1155 D1S1677 0.1560 0.8440 0.6133 0.2972 1.2667 0.6053 0.6626 0.1728 D11S4463 0.1043 0.8957 0.7269 0.5958 2.4783 0.7982 0.7654 0.4553 D1S1627 0.2658 0.7342 0.5193 0.3305 1.3571 0.6316 0.5675 0.2165 D3S4529 0.1183 0.8817 0.7111 0.6121 2.5909 0.8070 0.7520 0.1988 D2S441 0.1065 0.8935 0.7055 0.4587 1.7813 0.7193 0.7401 0.5562 D6S1017 0.1285 0.8715 0.6945 0.4875 1.9000 0.7368 0.7361 0.9520 D4S2408 0.1136 0.8864 0.7064 0.4730 1.8387 0.7281 0.7492 0.5450 D19S433 0.0646 0.9354 0.7974 0.5958 2.4783 0.7982 0.8186 0.5042 D17S1301 0.1200 0.8800 0.6693 0.3662 1.4615 0.6579 0.7107 0.1865 D1GATA113 0.1620 0.8380 0.6176 0.4447 1.7273 0.7105 0.6747 0.4530 D18S853 0.1214 0.8786 0.6816 0.5023 1.9655 0.7456 0.7248 0.6718 D20S482 0.1086 0.8914 0.7063 0.548 2.1923 0.7719 0.7465 0.5846 D14S1434 0.0922 0.9078 0.7343 0.473 1.8387 0.7281 0.7669 0.2846 D9S1122 0.1196 0.8804 0.6811 0.4587 1.7813 0.7193 0.7271 0.7903 D2S1776 0.1057 0.8943 0.7141 0.6121 2.5909 0.8070 0.7516 0.1957 D10S1435 0.1234 0.8766 0.6981 0.5797 2.3750 0.7895 0.7363 0.2249 D5S2500 0.057 0.0044 0.0132 0.0044 0.1554 0.8446 0.6268 0.3913 1.5405 0.6754 0.6790 0.8803 LD tests for marker pairs were estimated using GENEPOP V4.0.10 (Table 2 2 ). The LD test is used to test the association of the alleles at different loci, but LD does not completely equate to linkage: loci in disequilibrium in the LD test may not be linked, and linked loci may not be in disequilibrium. Loci on different chromosomes can show LD because of population substructure or natural selection. Hence, LD tests for all marker pairs were estimated, no matter whether they were on the same chromosome or not. The selected loci on the same chromosome in our study are at least 50 Mb apart and there is every chance that they are not linked. From the LD test results, we also found that the marker pairs on the same chromosomes were not in LD. In the 210 pairwise comparisons, 34 interchromosomal pairs showed LD ( P < 0.05). We found that there was no LD between D5S2500 and the other 20 loci in this population. In the Tibetan population from the Tibetan ethnic minority group living in the Lhase area of China, D5S2500 was also found without LD with the other 20 loci. These findings differ from those of studies of other Chinese populations (Zhu et al., 2011 2011 ; Shen et al., 2012 2012 ), in which LD tests were also conducted. In the Bai population from the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, China, D5S2500 was found in LD with D18S853, D1GATA113, D4S2408, and D9S1122. These results may be due to different evolutionary pathways and the diversity of the gene frequencies. Therefore, LD testing can give some ethnicity-specific genetic information for the study population. P < 0.05 are indicated in bold 2 STR loci 10 P value D17S1301 D11S4463 D12ATA63 D10S1248 D10S1435 D14S1434 D9S1122 D6S474 D6S1017 D5S2500 D11S4463 0.8249 D12ATA63 0.8270 0.3496 D10S1248 0.6107 0.5948 0.2858 D10S1435 0.1747 0.0196 0.0791 0.4598 D14S1434 0.8710 0.4036 0.3454 0.2956 0.0031 D9S1122 0.7067 0.1583 0.3138 0.6587 0.0749 0.0012 D6S474 0.8014 0.5210 0.0000 0.9196 0.0203 0.5353 0.5180 D6S1017 0.0896 0.6481 0.8656 0.1371 0.5915 0.1844 0.0525 0.6843 D5S2500 0.4679 0.1234 0.1417 0.2977 0.3398 0.2500 0.9241 0.3394 0.4616 D4S2408 0.3836 0.4463 0.2030 0.3497 0.3820 0.0101 0.0226 0.7010 0.2703 0.7974 D1S1677 0.2372 0.0000 0.3776 0.2371 0.0305 0.4054 0.0749 0.4244 0.1265 0.3952 D1S1627 0.0582 0.8265 0.2896 0.2984 0.4600 0.2584 0.3293 0.1399 0.0442 0.8392 D1GATA113 0.0000 0.0425 0.1232 0.3236 0.0204 0.2673 0.0685 0.5321 0.0136 0.3409 D19S433 0.2600 0.6419 0.5609 0.3735 0.2699 0.0069 0.2949 0.6941 0.5041 0.5037 D18S853 0.1373 0.1459 0.2398 0.3919 0.6687 0.1184 0.0159 0.5994 0.2434 0.2547 D3S4529 0.2373 0.4520 0.9182 0.9414 0.1507 0.3108 0.3332 0.3975 0.0006 0.1957 D2S441 0.3634 0.4197 0.0055 0.3019 0.5421 0.3003 0.6200 0.0025 0.0007 0.8772 D2S1776 0.3034 0.9047 0.0532 0.2863 0.0000 0.1809 0.0842 0.7962 0.6725 0.1826 D22S1045 0.0406 0.0537 0.0877 0.0002 0.2691 0.0132 0.0770 0.9777 0.2807 0.4359 D20S482 0.3989 0.2202 0.8767 0.1534 0.9405 0.9887 0.4655 0.2763 0.9905 0.8230 11 11 2 STR loci 10 P value D4S2408 D1S1677 D1S1627 D1GATA113 D19S433 D18S853 D3S4529 D2S441 D2S1776 D22S1045 11 D11S4463 D12ATA63 D10S1248 D10S1435 D14S1434 D9S1122 D6S474 D6S1017 D5S2500 D4S2408 D1S1677 0.0590 D1S1627 0.9763 0.3780 D1GATA113 0.0116 0.4327 0.6432 D19S433 0.0000 0.7582 0.3226 0.3546 D18S853 0.0445 0.3723 0.4555 0.8151 0.9576 D3S4529 0.4867 0.2093 0.0000 0.2215 0.1084 0.4316 D2S441 0.5576 0.0522 0.0409 0.6145 0.4852 0.2129 0.3766 D2S1776 0.3094 0.0771 0.2073 0.0375 0.1324 0.7720 0.7699 0.2953 D22S1045 0.3663 0.0710 0.4750 0.7635 0.8708 0.2940 0.0330 0.2449 0.9769 D20S482 0.4393 0.2236 0.3194 0.6134 0.0015 0.0000 0.6497 0.7965 0.3330 0.0117 Population substructure was measured by calculating the single-locus coefficient F and P values using the AMOVA (Table 3 3 ). Differences were found between the Tujia (Yuan et al., 2012 2012 ) and our study population at five loci (D14S1434, D20S482, D22S1045, D2S441, and D6S474). Between the Chinese Han population in Beijing (Guo et al., 2010 2010 ) and our study population, differences were found at six loci (D10S1248, D10S1435, D19S433, D1GATA113, D4S2408, and D9S1122). P values were less than 0.05 at four loci (D10S1248, D10S1435, D1S1627, and D1S1677) when our study population compared with three other populations (Tibetan, Bai, and Salar). Apart from these four loci, the comparison also showed significant differences from the Tibetan population (Zhu et al., 2011 2011 ) at another 10 loci (D11S4463, D12ATA63, D14S1434, D19S433, D20S482, D22S1045, D2S441, D3S4529, D5S2500, and D6S1017), the Bai population (Shen et al., 2012 2012 ) at another three loci (D22S1045, D3S4529, and D4S2408), and the Chinese Salar population in the Qinghai Province (Teng et al., 2012 2012 ) also at another two loci (D2S441 and D5S2500). When calculating the single-locus F and P values for the study population and the other four ethnic minority groups from China, most differences were found in the Tibetan group, with differences at 14 loci. This comparison revealed some genetic differences among populations from China. P < 0.05 shows statistically significant difference 2 STR loci 2 Tibetan 2 Salar 2 Bai 2 Han 2 Tujia F P F P F P F P F P D10S1248 0.1151 0.0000 0.1296 0.0000 0.1257 0.0000 0.0106 0.0260 −0.0038 1.0000 D10S1435 0.0836 0.0000 0.0848 0.0000 0.0938 0.0000 0.0157 0.0263 0.0000 0.7292 D11S4463 0.0079 0.0293 0.0047 0.1056 0.0026 0.1681 −0.0010 0.6723 0.0053 0.1496 D12ATA63 0.0164 0.0020 −0.0011 0.5591 −0.0009 0.5425 0.0063 0.4126 −0.0006 0.8807 D14S1434 0.0090 0.0303 0.0025 0.1701 0.0002 0.3861 −0.0048 0.9451 0.0142 0.0127 D17S1301 0.0028 0.1691 0.0039 0.1075 0.0005 0.3109 −0.0013 0.7582 −0.0022 1.0000 D18S853 0.0030 0.1525 −0.0012 0.5562 0.0043 0.1017 −0.0023 0.1505 −0.0035 1.0000 D19S433 0.0078 0.0225 −0.0013 0.6501 −0.0028 0.8837 0.0077 0.0003 0.0023 0.4145 D1GATA113 −0.0006 0.4252 −0.0033 0.8632 0.0028 0.2063 0.0003 0.0217 0.0063 0.1183 D1S1627 0.2188 0.0000 0.1836 0.0000 0.2179 0.0000 −0.0039 0.6937 0.0007 0.5445 D20S482 0.0086 0.0401 −0.0011 0.5328 0.0040 0.1134 −0.0048 0.6244 0.0099 0.0430 D22S1045 0.1145 0.0000 0.0019 0.2287 0.0823 0.0000 −0.0036 0.1237 0.0974 0.0000 D2S1776 −0.0002 0.3871 0.0014 0.2493 −0.0002 0.4027 0.0015 0.0551 −0.0002 0.7683 D2S441 0.0097 0.0108 0.0174 0.0020 0.0010 0.2884 −0.0053 0.9560 0.0241 0.0000 D3S4529 0.0235 0.0000 −0.0014 0.6022 0.0076 0.0430 −0.0042 0.8812 0.0046 0.2141 D4S2408 0.0047 0.0997 −0.0013 0.5758 0.0100 0.0274 0.0007 0.0365 0.0069 0.1085 D5S2500 0.0080 0.0459 0.0163 0.0059 0.0013 0.2630 0.0028 0.1739 −0.0011 0.8397 D6S1017 0.0232 0.0000 0.0066 0.0694 0.0053 0.0919 0.0046 0.1514 −0.0004 0.8006 D6S474 0.0065 0.0753 0.0009 0.2981 −0.0007 0.4956 −0.0032 0.8247 0.0232 0.0049 D9S1122 0.0016 0.2366 0.0009 0.2815 0.0016 0.2385 0.0104 0.0349 0.0000 0.6911 D1S1677 0.2287 0.0000 0.2256 0.0000 0.2338 0.0000 0.0117 0.1521 −0.0033 1.0000 In our previous study, the selected STR loci on the same chromosome were at least 50 Mb apart. Moreover, they were all positioned on chromosomes at sites that differ from the 13 CODIS loci, or if on the same chromosome, they were at least 50 Mb from the 13 CODIS loci and therefore considered to be unlinked. Thus, these 21 STR loci will serve as useful complements to the CODIS loci to aid in the forensic analysis of degraded DNA, in missing persons work and in parentage testing with limited next-of-kin reference samples. Conclusions 1 In summary, the allelic frequency distribution data and the forensic parameters showed that the 21 non-CODIS STR loci had highly genetic polymor phisms in this study population. This 21+1 multiplex PCR system was shown to be an efficient DNA detection system. The 21 STR loci are powerful and reliable for anthropological research, individual identification, and paternity testing. 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Genetic diversities of 21 non-CODIS autosomal STRs of a Chinese Tibetan ethnic minority group in Lhasa Compliance with ethics guidelines Hong-dan WANG, Chun-mei SHEN, Wen-juan LIU, Yu-dang ZHANG, Guang YANG, Jiang-wei YAN, Hai-xia QIN, and Bo-feng ZHU declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000(5). Informed consent was obtained from all people for being included in the study. 10.1631/jzus.B1200262 Project supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents of the Ministry of Education, China (No. NECT-10-0687), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University (No. 2011jdgz20), and the Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Research and Development Project Fund (No. 2012K16-08-01), China 2012-09-25 2013-05-20 2012-11-23 2022-01-05 Copyright © Zhejiang University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 2013 Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine and Biotechnology) 06 14