Population genetic data of the 21 autosomal STRs included in GlobalFiler^TM kit of a population sample from the Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

Introduction: Bahrain's population consists mainly of Arabs, Baharna and Persians leadingBahrain to become ethnically diverse. The exploration of the ethnic origin and genetic structure within the Bahraini population is fundamental mainly in the field of population genetics and forensic science. Aim:The purpose of the study was to investigate and conduct genetic studies in the population of Bahrain to assist in the interpretation of DNA-based forensic evidence and in the construction of appropriate databases. Materials and Methods: 24 short-tandem repeats in the GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification kit including 21 autosomal STR loci and three gender determination loci were amplified to characterize different genetic and forensic population parameters in a cohort of 543 Bahraini unrelated healthy men. Samples were collected during the year 2017. 2Results: The genotyping of the 21 autosomal STRs showed that most loci were in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) except for three markers; D3S1358, D19S433 and D5S818 which showed deviation from HWE. We also found out no significant deviations from LD between pairwise STR loci in Bahraini population except when plotting for D3S1358-CSF1PO, CSF1PO-SE33, D19S433-D12S391, FGA-D2S1338, FGA-SE33, FGA-D7S820 and D7S820-SE33. The SE33 locus was the most polymorphic for the studied population and THO1 locus was the less polymorphic. The Allele 8 in TPOX scored the highest allele frequency of 0.496. The SE33 locus showed the highest power of discrimination (PD) in Bahraini population, whereas TPOX showed the lowest PD value. The 21 autosomal STRs showed a value of combined match probability (CMP) equal to 4.5633 E-27 , and a combined power of discrimination (CPD) of 99.99999999%.Off-ladders and tri-allelic variants were observed in various samples at D12S391, SE33 and D22S1045 loci. Conclusion:Our study indicated that the twenty-one autosomal STRs are highly polymorphic in the Bahraini population and can be used as a powerful tool in forensics and population genetic analyses including paternity testing and familial DNA searching.Kingdom of Bahrain is a country of 33 islands located in the Arabian Peninsula. The location of Bahrain had affected the diversity of its population, which is mainly divided into four main ethnic groups: Arabs, Baharna and Persians. Genetic studies on Bahraini population are very limited and little has been done to characterize population structure within Kingdom of Bahrain. Here, we used 21 autosomal STRs included in the GlobalFiler TM Amplification Kit to amplify DNA from 543 non-related males from Bahraini population. We conducted statistical analysis using two main different software such as STRAF and GenAlEx. Different forensic and population parameters 3 were obtained to characterize Bahraini population. Some of the significant results obtained were the following: most of the loci were in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, the most polymorphic and informative marker was SE33. Allele 8 in TPOX presented the highest allele frequency for the studied population. We ...

Evaluation of Forensic Genetic Parameters of 24 STR Loci and Y indel in a Southern Region Saudi Population Sample Using GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification Kit

“…Comparable results were observed with the previous research that studied the nearest population, including Saudis, Bahraini, Emirati, Kuwaiti populations utilizing GlobalFiler TM STR amplification kits [12,15,16,19,23].…”

“…We observed that four loci deviated from HWE (D21S11, D2S1338, TH01, and TPOX), which could be explained by the high level of consanguineous marriage rates among Saudi southern region population. This phenomenon is common in communities with a high rate of inbreeding like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and UAE, as documented in previous reports [12,16,18]. However, after Bonferroni's correction, no deviation from HWE was observed for all markers.…”

“…Tri-allelic pattern has been previously reported in many other loci. In the study conducted by Al-Snan et al, the tri-allele pattern was observed in both D21S11 (30, 31.2, 32.2) and D2S441 (10,11,12) markers [16]. In a Japanese study, a tri-allelic pattern (18,25,26) was reported in the D12S391 locus [24].…”

“…Interpopulation pairwise genetic distances between the Southern Saudi population and eleven populations data collected from the literature of Saudi Arabia [15], Bahrain [16], Qatar [17], Emirates [18], Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh [19] were performed based on Fst and calculated utilizing POPTREE2 software [20].…”

“…Based on Fst, interpopulation pairwise genetic distances (Table -3) between the Saudi southern region population and eleven published populations data including Saudi Arabia [15], Bahrain [16], Qatar [17] , Emirates [18], Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh [19] were collected from the literature. The results of the population Fst were substantial, ranging from 0.003 to 0.042.…”