Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, China and spread to more than 114 countries resulting in a pandemic, which was declared by the WHO in March 2020. Tracking the spread of the virus raised a main concern in every country. Many researches proved the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in stool samples of patients, where the genes of this virus gave a positive signal several days prior to the occurrence of symptoms. The fact of viral shedding in stools provides an advantage in utilizing wastewater systems as a tool to monitor the viral prevalence. We tested more than 2900 municipal wastewater samples coming from 49 distinctive area in Dubai, where 28.6% showed positive results. We also looked into the wastewater samples from 198 commercial aircrafts arriving at Dubai Airport, giving a positive result percentage of 13.6%. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 genes was confirmed using TaqPath™ Covid-19 RT-PCR kit, which targets ORF1ab , N gene and S gene. This project shows the significance of utilizing wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) in monitoring the prevalence of various infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2, which can assist the decision makers to determine the level of precautionary measures according to the areas of the outbreak. With this in mind, pricewise, WBE is considered cost-effective when comparing to clinical nasal swabs.

Y chromosome short tandem repeat polymorphisms (Y-STRs) are important in many areas of human genetics. Y chromosomal STRs, being normally utilized in the field of forensics, exhibit low haplotype diversity in consanguineous populations and fail to discriminate among male relatives from the same pedigree. Rapidly mutating Y-STRs (RM Y-STRs) have received much attention in the past decade. These 13 RM Y-STRs have high mutation rates (>10−2) and have considerably higher haplotype diversity and discrimination capacity than conventionally used Y-STRs, showing remarkable power when it comes to differentiation in paternal lineages in endogamous populations. Previously, we analyzed two to four generations of 99 pedigrees with 1568 pairs of men covering one to six meioses from all over Pakistan and 216 male relatives from 18 deep-rooted endogamous Sindhi pedigrees covering one to seven meioses. Here, we present 861 pairs of men from 62 endogamous pedigrees covering one to six meioses from the Punjabi population of Punjab, Pakistan. Mutations were frequently observed at DYF399 and DYF403, while no mutation was observed at DYS526a/b. The rate of differentiation ranged from 29.70% (first meiosis) to 80.95% (fifth meiosis), while overall (first to sixth meiosis) differentiation was 59.46%. Combining previously published data with newly generated data, the overall differentiation rate was 38.79% based on 5176 pairs of men related by 1–20 meioses, while Yfiler differentiation was 9.24% based on 3864 pairs. Using father–son pair data from the present and previous studies, we also provide updated RM Y-STR mutation rates.

This article details the development of a single multiplex system amplifying 26 rapidly mutating Y‐STR markers. A sequenced allelic ladder, constructed for calling alleles of all loci, is introduced. The multiplex system shows the ability to address the limitations of Y‐STRs commercial kits in differentiating closely related males. The multiplex performed well in the prevalidation tests and showed great potential to be used in forensic casework.

Y-chromosome short tandem repeat polymorphisms (Y-STRs) are important in many areas of human genetics. Y chromosomal STRs being normally utilized in the field of forensic exhibit low haplotype diversity in endogamous populations and fail to discriminate among male relatives from same pedigree. Rapidly mutating Y-STRs (RM Y-STRs) have been paid much attention in last decade. These 13 RM Y STRs have high mutation rates (>10-2) and have considerably higher haplotype diversity and discrimination capacity than conventionally used Y-STRs showing remarkable power, when it comes to differentiation in paternal lineages in endogamous populations. Previously, we have analyzed 2–4 generation, 99 pedigrees covering 1568 pairs of men covering 1–6 meioses from all over Pakistan and 216 male relatives from 18 deep rooted endogamous Sindhi pedigrees covering 1-7 meioses. Here we are presenting 861 pairs of men from 63 endogamous pedigrees covering 1-6 meioses from Punjabi population of Punjab, Pakistan. Mutations were frequently observed at DYF399 and DYF403 while no mutation was observed at DYS526a/b. The rate of differentiation ranged from 29.70% (first meiosis) to 80.95% (fifth meiosis) while overall (1 to 6 meiosis) differentiation was 59.46%. Combining previously published data with newly generated data, an overall differentiation rate was 38.79% based on 5176 pairs of men related by 1–20 meioses, while Y-filer differentiation was 9.24% based on 3864 pairs. Using father-son pair data from the present and previous studies, we also provide updated RM Y-STR mutation rates.