Haplotype frequencies of 17 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat loci from the Cukurova region of Turkey

Aim

To investigate the distribution of 17 Y-short tandem repeat (STR) loci in the population of the Cukurova region of Turkey.

Methods

In the period between 2009 and 2010, we investigated the distribution of 17 Y-STRs in a sample of 249 unrelated healthy men from the Cukurova region of Turkey. Genomic DNA was extracted with InstaGene matrix and Y-STRs were determined using the AmpFISTR Yfiler PCR amplification kit. Gene and haplotype diversity values were estimated using the Arlequin software. To compare our data to other populations, population pairwise genetic distances and associated probability values were calculated using the Y Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database Web site software.

Results

At 17 Y-STR loci we detected 148 alleles. The lowest gene diversity in this region was 0.51 for DYS391 and the highest 0.95 for DYS385a/b. Haplotype diversity was 0.9997 ± 0.0004. We compared our data with haplotype data of other Turkish populations and no significant differences were found, except with Ankara population (Φ_st = 0.025, P = 0.018). Comparisons were also made with the neighboring populations using analysis of molecular variance of the Y-STR loci genetic structure and our population was nearest to Lenkoran-Azerbaijani (Φ_st = 0.012, P = 0.068) and Iranian Ahvaz population (Φ_st = 0.007, P = 0.173), followed by Greek (Φ_st = 0.026, P = 0.000) and Russian (Φ_st = 0.048, P = 0.000) population. Other countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Egypt, Israel (Palestinian Authority Area), and Taiwan showed a high genetic distance from our population.

Conclusion

Our study showed that Y-STR polymorphisms were a powerful discrimination tool for routine forensic applications and could be used in genealogical investigations.Human Y chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STR) are tandemly repeated regions of 2-7 base pair units in the non-recombining region of human Y chromosome. Since human Y-STR markers are inherited without recombination, they are transmitted from father to son unchanged. This makes the study of Y chromosome polymorphisms very useful, especially in population histories, forensic applications, and paternity analysis (1,2).The haplotype frequency of Y-STRs is important in the calculation of match probability in forensic cases. It is also important in anthropology and phylogenetic studies (1-5). Y chromosome haplotypes from global populations are stored in Y Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD) (www.yhrd.org). The International Society of Forensic Genetics recommended the use of regional Y-STR haplotype databases to verify that no population sub-structure exists before pooling data from different regions (3). Since there is a lack of Y-STR data on Turkish population in eastern Mediterranean area, we analyzed 249 unrelated Turkish men using 17 Y-STR markers including DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385a/b, DYS438, DYS439, DYS437, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, and Y-GATA H4 from the Cukurova region in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey.