Development and population study of the 12 X-STR loci multiplexes PCR systems

To develop a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system with 12 X-chromosomal short-tandem repeat (X-STR) loci and to investigate their polymorphism and linkage and/or independence, the 12 loci (DXS6807, DXS8378, DXS9902, DXS6800, DXS6803, DXS6799, DXS6804, GATA172D05, DXS6854, HPRTB, DXS8377, and DXS7423) were simultaneously analyzed in 1,005 unrelated individuals (574 males and 431 females) from Guangdong Han individuals and Kazakh populations living in China. The allele frequencies and mutation rates were investigated. Allele frequency distribution among different populations was compared. Haplotypes of linkage disequilibrium markers (DXS6807-DXS8378-DXS9902) and linked markers (DXS6804-GATA172D05 and DXS8377-DXS7423) were also reported. A total of 117 alleles, ranging from five to 20 for each locus, were observed in our selected populations. Eight cases with mutation of the selected loci were detected in 9,480 meioses. Pairwise comparisons of allele frequencies distribution showed statistically significant differences at most loci among different populations. Haplotype diversity of linked markers was 0.9404-0.9694. The results indicated that this multiplex system is very useful for forensic analysis and may be complementarities for X-12 kits or X-8 kits in forensic case.