Genetic variation in the DNA profiling between small population samples of Egypt and Uinted Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT

Short tandem repeats [STRs] are most extensively used for elucidating the genetic variation of human populations because of their abundance and prevalence in the genome. A lot of studies have been reported for autosomal STR allele frequencies for a number of different ethnic groups, however, published data for Arabs are limited. Therefore, it is desirable to establish the population DNA databases for Egypt and United Arab Emirates in general and to determine the extent of genetic variation between the allele frequencies of the two Arabic populations based on the analysis of different STR loci. In this study the Powerplex 1.2 system was used which is able to detect eight different tetrameric STR loci plus the amelogenin locus. DNA extraction was done from blood samples of 200 unrelated Egyptian volunteers and 200 unrelated Emirate volunteers. The coamplification of STR loci was performed according to the manufacturer's instructions and DNA typing was done in Abu Dhabi by using ABI 310 automated sequencer. Allele frequencies, forensic and paternity parameters were calculated. The two populations were compared by F-statistic estimation. The results showed that from the eight STR loci 60 and 63 different alleles were found in the Egyptian and UAE repectively, their frequencies were similar in the two populations. The data showed that none of the Egyptian population observed a significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium [HWE]. However, two loci in the UAE population displayed significant deviation from HWE. The result of this study confirmed that these STR loci are suitable for forensic and paternity testing in the Egyptian and UAE populations. There was little evidence of genetic differences between the two populations. Therefore one large database for these loci would be sufficient for the two populations. Howeverr, more studies for other loci are recommended between large samples of the two countries and also between other Arabic countries to confirm if one large Arabic DNA data could be enough for Arab or would it be necessary to set up one database for eash Arabic country