Genetic Variation at 15 Autosomal STR Loci Among Seven Egyptian Populations

Abstract

Egypt is a transcontinental country containing substantial ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity among its people. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic variation at 15 AmpFlSTR Identifiler short tandem repeat (STR) loci, D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, vWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818, and FGA, within and between seven Egyptian populations. Samples of 814 unrelated individuals from Northern Coast, Delta, Greater Cairo, Canal governorates, Northern Upper Egypt, Southern Upper Egypt, and Sinai were investigated. All loci were highly polymorphic in all sample populations. The data were analyzed to give information on allele frequencies and other population statistical parameters. After applying Bonferroni correction, the agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was confirmed for all loci (exact test), and for all loci with the exception of D3S1358, D19S433, and D18S51 (X2 test). The levels of genetic differentiation and the genetic relationships among populations were evaluated by coefficient of genetic differentiation (FST), AMOVA, and genetic distance of Nei. The most differentiated populations were found between Sinai and Southern Upper Egypt. These two populations showed the lowest within-population variation, whereas the population of Greater Cairo showed the highest within-population variation as indicated by the fixation index FIS. The varying levels of genetic relatedness among the populations in relation to their geographical distribution were analyzed using Mantel test. The results demonstrated that the effectiveness of STR markers enhances their value for identifying the genetic variation within and between Egyptian populations.