New population data for 21 STR loci in the Melanau and Murut of Borneo

In this study, we genotyped 21 autosomal STRs plus three loci located on the sex chromosomes in DNA samples collected from unrelated Melanau and Murut subjects using Globalfiler^TM Express PCR amplification kits. A total of 94 and 81 blood samples were respectively collected from individuals living in Sarawak and Sabah. They were all healthy and had no history of intermixing with other ethnic groups for at least the three most recent generations. The combined power of exclusion and discrimination values for the tested STR loci were 1 and 1 in 6.05 x 10^-23 for Melanau and 1 and 1 in 3.12 x 10^-22 for Murut, respectively. The Melanau and Murut autosomal STR datasets are closest to other representative Austronesian datasets of Borneo. Both are well separated from other population groups from Asia, Middle East and Africa.