Genetic distribution of 39 STR loci in 1027 unrelated Han individuals from Northern China.

The Han Ethnic Group is the largest among the 56 ethnic groups in China, accounting for 92% of the total population. The Han people are found in all parts of the country. One study showed that the Han Chinese population was actually substructured in a complex manner, with the main observed clusters roughly corresponding to the Northern-Han, Central-Han, and SouthernHan populations [1]. In the present study, population genetic data and forensic parameters of 39 autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) were obtained from 1027 unrelated Chinese Han individuals residing in Northern China (Hebei, Henan, and Shanxi provinces) (Fig. S1). Supplementary material related to this article found, in the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.07.019. Bloodstain samples of 1027 (male 506, female 521) unrelated healthy individuals were collected after obtaining informed consent. DNA was extracted using the Chelex-100 protocol [2]. The quantity of recovered DNA was determined by Qubit Quantitation System (Invitrogen, CA, USA), according to the manufacturer's specifications. DNA samples were amplified using two kits: Microreader 21 ID system (Microread Genetics Incorporation, China), which included Amelogenin and 20 autosomal loci (i.e., CSF1PO, D12S391, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, D2S1338, D2S441, D3S1358, D5S818, D6S1043, D7S82, D8S1179, FGA, Penta D, Penta E, THO1, TPOX, vWA), and Microreader 23sp ID system, which included Amelogenin and 22 autosomal loci (i.e., D6S477, D18S535, D19S253, D15S659, D11S2368, D20S470, D1S1656, D22GATA198B05, D8S1132, D4S2366, D21S1270, D13S325, D9S925, D3S3045, D14S608, D10S1435, D12S391, D7S3048, D17S1290, D5S2500, D2S1338, D16S539). Both kits contain D12S391, D16S539, and D2S1338, which could be used for sample concordance. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was conducted with the GeneAmp PCR System 9700 Thermal Cycler (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). Amplified products were separated by capillary electrophoresis on an ABI PRISM 3130XL Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). Data were analyzed using Genemapper ID 3.2 software (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). Allelic frequencies and forensic parameters were evaluated using Powerstats version 1.2 (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). Hardy– Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) of each locus and the linkage disequilibrium (LD) for all pair-wise STR loci were tested using the Genepop Version 4.2 software package (http://genepop.curtin.edu. au). To estimate the inter-population differentiation between the