Extreme Genetic Heterogeneity Among the Nine Major Tribal Taiwanese Island Populations Detected With a New Generation Y23 STR System

• NCJ Number: 248147
• Journal: Forensic Science International Genetics Volume: 12 Dated: September 2014 Pages: 100-106
• Author(s): Zhaoshu Zeng; Ralph Garcia-Bertrand; Silvia Calderon; Li Li; Mingxia Zhong; Rene J. Herrera
• Date Published: September 2014
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Ireland

Annotation

This study investigated the genetic diversity of all nine major Taiwanese aboriginal tribes: Ami, Atayal, Bunun, Ruka, Paiwan, Saisat, Puyuma, Tsou, and Yami

Abstract

The study determined that these nine major aboriginal populations have limited intra-genetic diversity and are highly heterogeneous from each other, possibly due to endogamy, isolation, drift, and/or unique ancestral populations. The phylogenetic analyses performed indicate that the genetic diversity among all nine tribes is greater than the diversity observed among the worldwide reference populations examined, indicating an extreme case of genetic heterogeneity among these tribes that have lived as close neighbors for thousands of years confined to the limited geographic area of an island. Regarding the tools of the study, compared to the 17 Yfiler marker system, the six additional loci in the new PowerPlex Y23 system provides greater improvement of forensic parameter values in populations with limited genetic heterozygosity. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 22 references