Evaluation of Y chromosomal SNP haplogrouping in the HID-Ion AmpliSeq™ Identity Panel

The Y chromosomal haplogroup determined from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) combinations is a valuable genetic marker to study ancestral male lineage and ethical distribution. Next-generation sequencing has been developed for widely diverse genetics fields. For this study, we demonstrate 34 Y-SNP typing employing the Ion PGM™ system to perform haplogrouping. DNA libraries were constructed using the HID-Ion AmpliSeq™ Identity Panel. Emulsion PCR was performed, then DNA sequences were analyzed on the Ion 314 and 316 Chip Kit v2. Some difficulties became apparent during the analytic processes. No-call was reported at rs2032599 and M479 in six samples, in which the least coverage was observed at M479. A minor misreading occurred at rs2032631 and M479. A real time PCR experiment using other pairs of oligonucleotide primers showed that these events might result from the flanking sequence. Finally, Y haplogroup was determined completely for 81 unrelated males including Japanese (n=59) and Malay (n=22) subjects. The allelic divergence differed between the two populations. In comparison with the conventional Sanger method, next-generation sequencing provides a comprehensive SNP analysis with convenient procedures, but further system improvement is necessary.