RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the allele frequencies of six short tandem repeats (STR) loci D12S391, D5S818, D18S51, PAHI3, D8S1179, D3S1358 in the Han population of Henan province and to obtain preliminary data.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>DNA was extracted with phenol-chloroform from 140 EDTA-blood specimens of healthy unrelated individuals in Henan population; multiplex PCR technique and PAGE vertical electrophoresis were used to screen the genotype frequencies of six STR systems in Henan population.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The test for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium revealed that the genotype distribution was correspondent with the expected. The observed heterozygosities of six loci were 0.871, 0.769, 0.871, 0.773, 0.901, 0.722. The calculated discrimination power is 0.9999998, the calculated power of exclusion is 0.99845, the calculated matching probability is 2.39 x 10(-7).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>All of the six loci in this study have high power of discrimination and exclusion; they may be very useful genetic markers for individual identification, paternity test and genetics purposes.</p>
