Population study of Y-chromosome STR haplotypes in Japanese from the Tokushima

The Y-chromosome short tandem repeat (STR) systems including DYS19, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385 and YCAII were investigated in 121 Japanese males (Tokushima area). Analysis of the nine loci permitted classification of the samples into 107 haplotypes, and the haplotype diversity was estimated to be 0.989. DYS385 showed the highest gene diversity (GD) value (GD=0.946), while DYS391 showed the lowest GD value (GD=0.27). Furthermore, in DYS392, we found a new mutant allele that added a T within the repeat region (a mutation in the repetitive region), and the allele was designated 13.1 according to the sequence structure. We also detected allele 20 in DYS392 as a new allele. In DYS385, a new allele 26 that has not been previously reported was observed.