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Wednesday, July 23, 2008       Time: 7:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.

#2 Forensically Approved STRs Reveal Genetic Diversity and Differentiation in the Northwest China Populations

Northwest China is a region where many different independent populations have lived for more than two hundred years. Nevertheless, it’s highly worthy to investigate the genetic information of these populations with molecular genetics approaches in order to preserve the genetic resource and polymorphism within this region.

To characterize the genetic differentiation and evolution of 16 different populations and 12 independent minorities, nine autosomal STRs, which are widely applied in forensic science, were selected; then several statistical methods, such as principal component analysis, phylogenetic trees, R matrix analysis, and Mantel tests were processed in parallel with allele and genotype frequency data.

The results of principal component analysis showed that five minority populations living in Xinjiang were clearly separated from other populations. Topologically, the branch of phylogenetic trees was in coordinate with linguistic affiliation. Regression plot of R matrix model suggested most populations had the similar patterns of gene flow at an average level, with the exception of Hui in Qinghai, which received more gene flow from outside. Unexpectedly, results of Mantel test showed that the correlation between genetic distance and linguistic distance (r=0.5040, p=0.0054) was more dominant than genetic distance and geographic distance (r=0.0022, p=0.4950), which represents that linguistic difference contributed more to genetic differentiation than geographical isolation.

Descriptions: Seminar #1 | Seminar #2 | Seminar #3 | Seminar #4