Population Genetics Study Using 26 Y-chromosomal STR Loci In The Hui Ethnic Group In China

Objective:To investigate the genetic relationship and the application in forensic medicine of the Hui ethnic groups from Ningxia,Qinghai,Gansu Province with the Goldeneye 26Y STR amplification system.Methods:(1)In this study,26 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat(STR)loci(DYS19,DYS389I,DYS389II,DYS390,DYS391,DYS392,DYS393,DYS385,DYS43,DYS438,DYS439,DYS448,DYS456,DYS458,DYS635,GATA H4,DYS549,DYS643,DYS388,DYS570,DYS533,DYS576,DYS460,DYS481,and DYS449)were genotyped by multi-capillary electrophoresis on an ABI Prism 3130 XL Genetic Analyzer,in 290 unrelated males of three Hui ethnic populations from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,Qinghai Province and Gansu Province,respectively.(2)Haplotype diversity and and other forensic parameters were analyzed.Then,data were compared with other Chinese ethnic groups and in Asia using RST pairwise analyses,and visualized using a multidimensional scaling plots(NMDS).Results:(1)Different micro variants(partial repeats)were observed at the following five loci:DYS385,DYS458,DYS448,DYS449,and DYS389II.We observed two null alleles at DYS448 in two haplotypes.(2)In overall Hui groups,we detected 240 alleles at the 26 Y-STR loci.In the Hui group of Ningxia,the allelic frequencies of single-copy STR loci ranged from 0.0100 to 0.7500,while the frequencies of genotypes of multi-copy STR loci ranged from 0.0100 to 0.0800;in the Hui group of Qinghai,the allelic frequencies of single-copy STR loci ranged from 0.0111 to 0.7444,while the frequencies of genotypes of multi-copy STR loci ranged from 0.0111 to 0.0778;in the Hui group of Gansu,the allelic frequencies of single-copy STR loci ranged from 0.0100 to 0.7200,while the frequencies of genotypes of multi-copy STR loci ranged from 0.0100 to 0.1600.(3)By comparing the allele frequency distribution,we found DYS456 and DYS439showed significant difference among Han ethnic group from Ningxia and the Hui group from Qinghai;also,we found DYS456,DYS393,DYS389II,DYS549,DYS439,DYS392,DYS389I,DYS390,DYS576,DYS481 and DYS385 these loci showed significant difference among Hui groups from Gansu Province and Hui groups from Ningxia;DYS456,DYS393,DYS549,DYS392,DYS570,DYS533,DYS389I,DYS390,DYS576,DYS458,DYS481 and DYS385 showed significant difference among Hui groups from Gansu Province and Hui groups from Qinghai.(4)Gene diversities(GD)for the 26 Y-STR loci in three groups are showed DYS385a was te highest polymorphic marker overall.Also,DYS449 had the same ranking among three groups,and had a very high polymorphic marker.In Hui groups from Ningxia,we observed DYS391,DYS437,DYS438 and DYS549 had a low GD values(less than 0.6).DYS391,DYS437,DYS438,DYS549,DYS388 and DYS456 had a low polymorphic marker(less than 0.6)in the Hui groups from Qinghai Provinc.In Hui group from Gansu,DYS391,DYS388,DYS437,DYS393,DYS389I,DYS438 and DYS533had the GD value less than 0.6.(5)A total of 267 different haplotypes of Hui group were observed from 290 individuals.The overall haplotype diversity of the Hui group is 0.999045,among which the Hui group from Ningxia has a haplotype diversity of 0.999394,Qinghai has a haplotype diversity of 0.999251 and Gansu has a haplotype diversity of 0.993131.The Hui group from Gansu had the lowest HD ranking.(6)To investigate genetic diversity among the Hui populations and their relationships with Asian Muslim descendants as well as major ethnicities in east Asia,we compared our study population with 14 other populations.Overall,the Hui groups show significant genetic distances to most non-Chinese populations.When compared to Chinese populations,the Hui group from Qinghai Province showed no significant differences with the Ningxia Hui,the Xinjiang Uyghur and the Inner Mongolia Mongolian groups.Similarly,the Hui ethnic group from Ningxia showed no significant differences with the Hui group from Cangzhou.The Hui group from Gansu Province showed significant differences(P-values ≤ 0.05)to all the populations.As demonstrated in MDS plot,the Hui groups from the three locations and other populations in China(except Tibet)are clustered in the MDS plot,indicating that these populations in China have closer genetic relations.Conclusion:(1)which revealed that Hui groups from the three locations and other populations in China have closer genetic relations,and the Hui groups show significant genetic distances to most non-Chinese populations.In conclusion,26 Y-STR loci are highly polymorphic in the Hui ethnic group and the Goldeneye 26Y STR amplification system may be a powerful tool in forensic genetics.(1)There are relatively high genetic polymorphism amoung the Hui group from Ningxia,Qinghai and Gansu Province.The allele frequency and gene diversity of 26 STR loci on chromosome Y of the Hui group from three locations are different,which might contribute to promoting the study of the genetics Hui population.(2)The ranking from high to low of the haplotype distribution of 26 Y-STR loci in three location is:Ningxia,Qinghai,Gansu Province.(3)The Hui groups from the three locations and other populations in China have closer genetic relations,and the Hui groups show significant genetic distances to most non-Chinese populations.The Hui groups from different locations have different gene background.