Exploring the genetic landscape of the Doukkala population (Morocco) using 15 autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs)

Introduction/Objectives

Situated in West Central Morocco, the Doukkala region carries the distinction of being one of North Africa's oldest human settlement zones. Nonetheless, it has been notably understudied in the realm of population genetics. Through allele frequency analysis and integration of forensic parameters, the research aims to gain insights into the genetic structure and neighboring affiliations of the Doukkala population.

Methods

This study employed the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR system to assess the allelic frequencies and forensic parameters of 15 autosomal STRs in a cohort of 134 unrelated, healthy individuals from the Doukkala region who identify as Arab-speakers. Additionally, we explored the genetic relationships between the Doukkala population and other reference groups, considering both our dataset and previously published population data.

Results

A total of 180 alleles were observed in the study population. With a count of 19 alleles, D18S51 proved to be the most diverse marker in the study. After Bonferroni's correction, 3 loci (FGA, TH01, and TPOX) deviated from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. The combined power of discrimination (PD) was 0.99999999999999999526 and the combined probability of exclusion (PE) was 0.99999664790900144592. The Arabic-speaking population of Rabat-Salé–Zemmour-Zaer and Southern population from Morocco exhibit the shortest genetic distance from population of Doukkala. No significant difference was observed between the Arabic-speaking population of Doukkala and all North African populations at all loci, except for the Egyptian population (North-East Africa), where a difference was observed at 2 specific loci (CSF1PO and TH01).

Conclusions

These results indicate that the diversity found in populations from North Africa transcends geographic and linguistic barriers. The dataset's relevance to this research could stem from its capacity to offer valuable reference data for forensic, anthropological, and genetic investigations.