Population genetic studies on the tetrameric short tandem repeat loci D3S1358, VWA, FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317 and D7S820 in Egypt

The short tandem repeat loci (STRs) D3S1358, VWA, FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820 and a locus allowing for sex-discrimination (amelogenin) can be co-amplified by the polymerase chain reaction using a commercially available kit (AmpFISTR Profiler plus, Perkin-Elmer Biosystems, San Jose, CA) and subsequently typed using capillary electrophoresis (ABI Prism 310 Genetic analyzer, Perkin Elmer Applied Biosystems, San Jose CA). To establish databases for these loci for an Arab population sample from Egypt, 140 unrelated persons were typed. Analysis of these data revealed that all loci except for VWA were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, that the combined mean paternity exclusion chance (MEC) was 0.999875 and that the combined discriminating power (DP) was 2.635x10(-11). The allelic distributions found in the Egyptian sample were significantly different at four loci from those found for an Austrian Caucasian population, at all nine loci from an African-American sample and at six of six loci from a Chinese sample. No evidence of linkage equilibrium between any of the co-amplified loci was found. Our results support that the combination of multiplex PCR and capillary electrophoresis can both save time and yield excellent results for paternity testing and stain analysis. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.