Investigation the forensic efficacy and genetic trait of a Chinese ethnic group by 57 autosomal InDel loci

Introduction

The 60-Plex InDel panel has recently been developed for forensic individual identification, and has demonstrated high sensitivity, reproducibility, and stability through various validation tests. However, its effectiveness still requires further validation across diverse populations to expand the population genetic database.

Materials and methods

In this study, we applied the 60-Plex InDel panel to genotype 190 unrelated healthy individuals from Chinese Manchu group. Through a series of genetic analyses, we evaluated the forensic efficacy of this panel in Chinese Manchu group.

Results

The 57 autosomal InDel loci showed high polymorphisms in Chinese Manchu group. The cumulative probability of matching and cumulative power of exclusion values of this panel were 4.4465 × 10^–24 and 0.9999808285 in Chinese Manchu group, respectively. Full sibling identification accuracy reached 82.90 % in Chinese Manchu group with the likelihood ratio limit of 100. Population genetic analyses, including D_A distances, F_ST values, phylogenetic tree construction, principal component analysis and STRUCTURE analysis, revealed that the Chinese Manchu group shared genetic proximity with the East Asian populations. The biogeographic origins of three continental populations (African, East Asian, and European) were inferred with high accuracy using two classification models (Random Forest and Support Vector Machine).

Conclusions

The 60 Plex-InDel panel is powerful for individual identification and paternity testing in Chinese Manchu group. It also has potential in inferring the biogeographic origins of individuals from different continents. The Chinese Manchu group is genetically related to East Asian populations, particularly to the Chinese Beijing Han population.