Genetic variation at nine short tandem repeat loci in Chamorros and Filipinos from Guam

Allele distributions for nine tetrameric short tandem repeat (STR) loci D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D18S51, D21S11, FGA and vWA were determined in Chamorros and Filipinos residing in Guam. There was little evidence for departures from Hardy-Weinberg expectations (HWE) in any of the populations. Based on the exact test, the only locus that departs significantly from HWE is D8S1179 (p=0.005, Chamorros; p=0.030, Filipinos). There is little evidence for association of alleles between the loci in these databases. The number of pairwise locus departures from expectations is no more than would be expected by chance. The allelic frequency data are similar to comparable published data within the same population group (e.g., a comparison of Filipinos with Filipinos) and significantly different compared with other major population groups, such as African Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics. The F(ST) estimate over all nine STR loci is 0.0090.