title: A genetic overview of Atlantic coastal populations from Europe and North-West Africa based on a 17 X-STR panel.
abstract: The forensic use of X-STRs requires the creation of allele and haplotype frequency databases in the populations where they are going to be used. Recently, an updated Spanish allele and haplotype frequency database for the new 17 X-STR panel has been created, being the only database available up to now for this new multiplex. In order to broaden the forensic applicability of the 17 X-STR panel, 513 individuals from four different populations located on the Atlantic Coast of Europe and North-West Africa have been studied, i.e. Brittany (France), Ireland, northern Portugal, and Casablanca (Morocco). Allele and haplotype frequency databases, as well as parameters of forensic interest for these populations are presented. The obtained results showed that the 17 X-STR panel constitutes a highly discriminative tool for forensic identification and kinship testing in the studied populations. Furthermore, we aimed to study if these populations located on the Atlantic coast actually share alike allele and haplotype frequency distributions since they have experienced genetic exchanges throughout history. This would allow creating larger forensic databases that include several genetically similar populations for its use in forensic casework. For this purpose, pairwise FSTgenetic distances between the analyzed populations and others from the Atlantic Coast previously studied with the 17 X-STR panel or the ten coincident markers included in the decaplex of the GHEP-ISFG were estimated. Our results suggest that certain nearby populations located on the European Atlantic coast could have underwent episodes of genetic interchange as they have not shown statistically significant differentiation between them. However, the population of Casablanca showed significant differentiation with the majority of the European populations. Likewise, the autochthonous Basque Country and Brittany populations have shown distinctive allele frequency distributions between them. Therefore, these findings seem to support that the use of independent allele and haplotype frequency databases for each population instead of a global database would be more appropriate for forensic purposes.
authors.affiliation: BIOMICs Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. Avda. Miguel de Unamuno, 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
authors.forename: Endika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Prieto-Fernández
authors.affiliation: BIOMICs Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. Avda. Miguel de Unamuno, 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Díaz-de Usera
authors.affiliation: BIOMICs Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. Avda. Miguel de Unamuno, 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baeta
authors.affiliation: BIOMICs Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. Avda. Miguel de Unamuno, 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Núñez
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire National De Référence, Université Mohammed IV des Sciences de la Santé, Boulevard Mohamed Taieb Naciri, Hay El Hassani, BP 82403, Casa Oumrabii, Casablanca, Morocco.
authors.forename: Faiza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chbel
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique Humaine, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco.
authors.forename: Sellama
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nadifi
authors.affiliation: Inserm, UMR 1078, France, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France, Etablissement Français du Sang, Bretagne, CHRU Brest, Hôpital Morvan, Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire et d'Histocompatibilité, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rouault
authors.affiliation: Inserm, UMR 1078, France, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France, Etablissement Français du Sang, Bretagne, CHRU Brest, Hôpital Morvan, Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire et d'Histocompatibilité, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Férec
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Dublin, 2, Ireland; Department of Neurology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, 9, Ireland.
authors.forename: Orla
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hardiman
authors.affiliation: Delegação do Norte do Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal, Jardim Carrilho Videira, 4050-167 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Fátima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.affiliation: BIOMICs Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. Avda. Miguel de Unamuno, 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. Electronic address: marian.mdepancorbo@ehu.eus.
authors.forename: Marian M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: de Pancorbo
mesh_terms: D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D009018:Morocco
keywords: 17 X-STRs; Atlantic coast; Database; Forensics