An in-depth population genetic analysis of forensic short tandem repeat loci in Indonesia

Allele frequency data and knowledge of the population genetic features of relevant populations are required to substantiate the strength of forensic DNA evidence. It is conceivable that population substructure exists within Indonesia given that it is an archipelago with over 17,000 islands and encompasses numerous distinct ethnic and linguistic groups. However, the population genetic features of forensic short tandem repeat (STR) loci in Indonesia have not been examined thoroughly. Samples from 1500 unrelated Indonesian individuals representing 31 geographic sub-populations were analysed using the AmpFℓSTR ® Identifiler ® kit (Applied Biosystems). Departures from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) and linkage equilibrium (LE) were assessed using exact tests and results suggest that a number of the sub-populations, as well as the combined data set (N=1286), display significant departures from equilibrium. Ultimately, data from these STRs and other markers on this sample set will assist in forming genetically appropriate sub-population groupings for the purpose of constructing defensible forensic STR databases.