Comparative analysis of short tandem repeats and single nucleotide polymorphisms on the Y-chromosome in Germans, Chinese and Thais.

We have typed genomic DNA samples from 95 individuals from Western Germany, 78 individuals from Bangkok/Thailand and 56 individuals from Chengdu/China for 11 Y-chromosomal diallelic polymorphisms and eight short tandem repeat (STR) systems. For single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis, a rapid method was applied using the single base extension technology (minisequencing) in combination with capillary electrophoresis. PCR products for SRY-8299, Tat, SRY2627, 92R7, SRY1532, M9, M13, M17/M19 and M20 were pooled and used as templates for the commercially available SNaPshot kit. In addition to these ten SNPs we also tested the Y-chromosomal diallelic Alu repeat insertion DYS287 (YAP) by agarose gel electrophoresis as well as the Y-chromosomal STR systems DYS19, DYS389I+II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393 and DYS385 by fluorescent multiplex fragment analysis. Among the 11 diallelic SNP/Alu systems, only six were found to be polymorphic in the three population samples. From these a total number of seven different haplogroups could be identified in the three populations. Of these, five haplogroups were present in Germans, five in Thais, and only two in Chinese. These haplogroup trees clearly represent population-specific structures. Haplogroup 26 is represented at a high frequency in the Thai and Chinese populations whereas it is absent in Germans. The Y-STR data confirm a haplogroup-specific distribution of Y-STR haplotypes. Only a few cases of identical STR haplotypes in the same SNP haplogroups were detected in each of the three populations studied.