Genetic characteristics and forensic features of Xibe ethnic group revealed via extended set of Y-STRs

Abstract

Background

Xibe is the fifth largest minority population of Liaoning province. Predominately they live in Liaoning province (69.52%), followed by Xinjiang (18.06%), Heilongjiang (3.99%), Jilin (1.63%) and Inner Mongolia provinces (1.57%).

Aim

To provide an updated and precise population database on an extended set of Y STRs not available before and explore the forensic characteristics of 26 Y chromosomal STRs.

Subjects & methods

In this study, we genotyped 406 unrelated Xibe male individuals from Liaoning province using Goldeneye^® 26Y System kit and calculated the forensic parameters of these 26 Y STRs loci.

Results

All haplotypes generated for 406 Xibe samples using Goldeneye^® 26Y kit were unique with a discrimination capacity (DC) of 1. On restricting the haplotypes to the Y-filer^® set of 17 Y-STRs, we observed 392 haplotypes. Among them 93.53% (380) were unique with a DC of 0.9655 and haplotype diversity (HD) of 0.9998, showing high discrimination power of the extended set of markers in this population. Allelic frequencies ranged from 0.0024 to 0.7684 across 26 Y STRs loci. DYS385 showed the highest gene diversity (0.9691) among all markers.

Conclusion

According to pairwise R_ST genetic distances among Xibe populations from China, the Liaoning Xibe population showed the closest genetic distance (0.0035) followed by Xinjiang Xibe population (0.0218). Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis among Xibe and 29 other Chinese populations showed that local populations such as Manchu from Liaoning and Han from Beijing had a close affinity while Tibetans from Aba, China, were most distant from Xibe populations. Moreover, 12 individuals showed a null allele at DYS448 in Xibe population samples. We submitted Y-STRs data in the Y-Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD) for future forensic and other usage.

Keywords:

• Xibe
• Liaoning
• Y-STRs
• Forensic genetics
• Y-Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD)

Acknowledgements

We thank all volunteers who provided material and data for this project and Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting Project number (PNURSP2022R318), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Compliance with ethical standards

All participants gave their informed consent in writing after the study aims and procedures were carefully explained to them in their own language. The study was approved by the ethical review board of the Xiamen Blood Centre, Xiamen, Fujian province, People’s Republic of China, and was in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Author contributions

B.P and A.A. developed the idea. P.R. and A.A wrote the manuscript, P.R., A.A., and J.F., conducted the experiment, S.O., F.S., W.Q., and A.A. analysed the results. A.A., S.H., and B.P. modified the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting Project number (PNURSP2022R318), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.