الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Short tandem repeats (STRs) are widespread throughout the human genome and are a rich source of highly polymorphic markers. They can be amplified, separated and analyzed inorder to be used effectively for individual identification and population structure analysis purposes. Egypt is a transcontinental country containing substantial ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity among its people. Multiplex STR typing was conducted in the present study to investigate the genetic variation at 15 AmpFℓSTR® Identifiler® plus short tandem repeat (STR) loci, within and between seven Egyptian populations. Samples of 407 unrelated individuals from Northern Coast, Delta, Greater Cairo, Canal governorates, Northern Upper Egypt, Southern Upper Egypt and Sinai were investigated. All loci were highly polymorphic in all sample populations. The data were analyzed to give information on allele frequencies and other forensic statistical parameters. After applying Bonferroni correction, the agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was confirmed for all loci (exact test),and for all loci with the exception of D3S1358, D19S433 and D18S51 (X2 test). The levels of genetic differentiation and the genetic relationships among populations were evaluated by coefficient of genetic differentiation (FST) and genetic distance of Nei. The most differentiated populations were found between Sinai and Southern Upper Egypt. These two populations showed the lowest within-population variation, whereas the population of Greater Cairo showed the highest within-population variation as indicated by the fixation index (FIS). The results demonstrated that the effectiveness of STR markers enhances their value for identifying the genetic variation within and between Egyptian populations. The varying levels of genetic relatedness among the populations in relation to their geographical distribution are discussed. Keywords: DNA typing; Short tandem repeats; Multiplex-PCR; Egyptian populations. |