Forensic Science International: Genetics 21 (2016) e15–e17

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Forensic Science International: Genetics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fsig

Correspondence

Population data of 24 STRs in Mexican-Mestizo

population from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
(Northeast, Mexico) based on Powerplex1
Fusion and GlobalFiler1 kits

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: The STR loci included into new commercial human identification kits compels geneticists estimating
Received 10 October 2015 forensic parameters for interpretation purposes in forensic casework. Therefore, we studied for the first
Received in revised form 2 December 2015 time in Mexico the GlobalFiler1 and Powerplex1 Fusion systems in 326 and 682 unrelated individuals,
Accepted 9 December 2015
respectively. These individuals are resident of the Monterrey City of the Nuevo Leon state (Northeast,
Available online 11 December 2015
Mexico). Population data from 23 autosomal STRs and the Y-STR locus DYS391 are reported and
compared against available STR data from American ethnic groups and the unique Mexican population
Keywords:
studied with Powerplex1 Fusion.
GlobalFiler
Powerplex
ã 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Human identification
STRs
Mexico

Genotypes were obtained for a total of 24 STR loci included in

Dear Editor
In Mexico, around 90% of the current population is Mestiza
(admixed) and has been widely studied for the 15 STR loci
traditionally analyzed in forensic casework in this country [1].
However, during the last few years commercial STR kits have
increased the number of loci available for this task [2,3], which
compels geneticists estimating parameters for interpretation
purposes in forensic casework, at least for the non-previously
studied markers. In Mexico, among the new commercial Human
Identification (HID) kits, only the Powerplex1 Fusion System
(Promega, Madison, WI, USA) has been analyzed in Mexico DF [4],
but population studies based on the GlobalFiler1 kit Express
(Thermo Scientific) have not been reported. This task is particularly
important given the population structure described for Mestizos
throughout the Mexican territory due to differences in European
and Amerindian ancestries, principally [1]. For this reason, we
studied both the Powerplex1 Fusion and Globalfiler1 kits in
682 and 326 unrelated Mexican-Mestizos, respectively, from the
Monterrey City located in the Nuevo Leon state (Northeast,
Mexico). Buccal swab samples spotted on FTA cards were obtained
under informed consent according to the ethical guidelines of the
Helsinki declaration. Genomic DNA was extracted using 0.5 mm of
FTA paper punch and 5% Chelex 100 in autoclaved deionized water.
A volume of 100 mL of DNA extract was removed from the Chelex
resin for further analysis. The project was approved by Ethical
Research Committee at the Institute of Criminalistics and Forensic
Services of the Attorney General of Nuevo Leon. The anonymity of
the individuals investigated was preserved.
both HID systems, namely: D3S1358, D1S1656, D2S441, D10S1248,
D13S317, PENTA E, D16S539, D18S51, D2S1338, CSF1PO, PENTA D,
TH01, vWA, D21S11, D7S820, D5S818, TPOX, DYS391, D8S1179,
D12S391, D19S433, FGA, D22S1045 and SE33, plus Amelogenin. We
followed PCR conditions and capillary electrophoresis on the ABI-
Prism 3500 Genetic Analyzer (Thermo Fisher Scientific), as
recommended by the suppliers [5,6]. For the genotyping process,
the software GeneMapper1 ID-X Software v1.4 (Thermo Fisher
Scientific) and the corresponding allelic ladders were employed.
Consensus genotypes after two independent reads were reported
in the final STR database. Our laboratory participates in the quality
control proficiency test annually organized by the Latin American
Society for Forensic Genetics (www.slagf.org). The complete
genotype dataset is available as electronic Supplementary material
(ESM-Database.xlm).
Allele frequencies were estimated by gene counting method
putting together data from the 21 STRs included in both HID kits,
namely: D3S1358, D1S1656, D2S441, D10S1248, D13S317,
D16S539, D18S51, D2S1338, CSF1PO, TH01, vWA, D21S11,
D7S820, D5S818, TPOX, D8S1179, D12S391, D19S433, FGA,
D22S1045, and DYS391. In addition, allele frequencies were
obtained for the Penta D and Penta E loci exclusively from the
Powerplex1 Fusion kit, and for SE33 from the GlobalFiler1 kit;
thus, forensic parameters for these three loci were based upon a
smaller sample size. Heterozygosity (He), power of discrimination
(PD), power of exclusion (PE), polymorphism information content
(PIC), and typical paternity index (TPI) were estimated with the
Excel spreadsheet PowerStats [7]. Minimum allele frequencies
(MAF) were computed according to NRC recommendations as 5/

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.12.004
1872-4973/ ã 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
16 Correspondence / Forensic Science International: Genetics 21 (2016) e15–e17
Fig. 1. MDS plot based on Fst distances between two Mexican-Mestizo populations and three major American populations for 23 autosomal STRs included in the Powerplex
Fusion and Global Filer kits.
2 N [8]. For the Y-linked locus DYS391, both PD and PE are
represented by the theoretical heterozygosity that was estimated
as follows: He = 1 Spi2, where pi represents the frequency of the
allele i. Exact tests were carried out with the software GDA
(Genetic Data Analysis) ver. 1.1 [9] to check Hardy–Weinberg
expectations (HWE) by locus, and linkage disequilibrium (LD)
between pair of loci. Analysis molecular of variance (AMOVA),
genetic distances (Fst) and pairwise comparison (Fst p-values) were
estimated including previously published data from African,
Caucasian, and Hispanic populations from U.S.A [10], and Mexico
DF [4] with the software Arlequin v 3.5.1.2 [11]. Genetic distances
were graphically represented in a multidimensional scaling (MDS)
plot with the program SPSS v19 for Windows [12].
Allele frequencies and forensic parameters of the 24 STR loci are
shown in a Tables S1 and S2, respectively. As previously noted,
differences in minimum allele frequencies are due to the larger
sample sizes for shared STR markers between HID systems
(Table S1). In general, genotype distribution of the 23 autosomal
STRs was in agreement with HWE (Table S2), and LD tests (data not
shown) displayed no association between pair of loci. The unique
HWE deviation observed in D13S1358 (p = 0.007) did not deserve
further discussion after applying Bonferroni correction. These tests
were applied firstly to individual population samples analyzed
with each HID kit, and then to the pooled sample (n = 1008)
(Table S2); both results were consistent with the aforementioned
conclusions. The random match probability for the autosomal STRs
of Powerplex1 Fusion is 1 in 3.61 1024, and 1 in 7.14  1022 for
GlobalFiler1 Express, whereas the combined PE was
0.999999994 and 0.999999981 for these two HID kits, respectively.
By STR, Penta E showed the highest PD (0.983), whereas
SE33 displayed the highest PE (0.78). Concordantly, these two
STR loci showed the highest heterozygosity into the HID kit which
they are included to (0.89). On the other hand, DYS391 displays a
theoretical heterozygosity of 0.5613 that allows increasing slightly
the PE and PD for both HID systems when males are analyzed.
Although Fst genetic distances displayed in the MDS plot allow
appreciating larger differences between the main American ethnic
groups than between the two Mexican Mestizo populations
(Fig. 1), all pairwise comparisons were significant (Table S3).
Interestingly, interpopulational variation estimated by AMOVA
among the four American ethnic groups (Fst = 0.059; p = 0.01271),
was very similar to the observed between the two Mexican
populations (Fst = 0.06; p = 0.0176). This result emphasizes the
importance about generating local STR databases in Mexico for
forensic casework interpretation.
In brief, we report for the first time a population STR dataset
from Mexican Mestizos based on the analysis of two new HID
systems. Population data published in this paper might be used
freely for any laboratory in the human identification and paternity
test area. This publication follows the standardized guidelines
publication of population data [13].
Acknowledgments
We are grateful with all the volunteers for generously
collaborating in this study, and with all the staff of the Forensic
Genetics Laboratory, especially to Porfirio Díaz Torres, General
Manager of the Criminalistics and Forensic Services Institute. This
project was supported by Procuraduría General de Justicia de
Nuevo León.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be
found, in the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
fsigen.2015.12.004.
References
[1] R. Rubi-Castellanos, G. Martínez-Cortés, J.F. Muñoz-Valle, A. González-Martín,
R.M. Cerda-Flores, M. Anaya-Palafox, H. Rangel-Villalobos, Pre-Hispanic
Mesoamerican demography approximates the present-day ancestry of
 Correspondence / Forensic Science International: Genetics 21 (2016) e15–e17
Mestizos throughout the territory of Mexico, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. (2009)
284–294.
[2] D.Y. Wang, S. Gopinath, R.E. Lagacé, W. Norona, L.K. Hennessy, M.L. Short, J.J.
Mulero, Developmental validation of the GlobalFiler1 express PCR
amplification kit: a 6-dye multiplex assay for the direct amplification of
reference samples, Forensic Sci. Int. 19 (2015) 148–155.
[3] K. Oostdik, K. Lenz, J. Nye, K. Schelling, D. Yet, S. Bruski, J. Strong, C. Buchanan, J.
Sutton, J. Linner, N. Frazier, H. Young, L. Matthies, A. Sage, J. Hahn, R. Wells, N.
Williams, M. Price, J. Koehler, M. Staples, K.L. Swango, C. Hill, K. Oyerly, W.
Duke, L. Katzilierakis, M.G. Ensenberger, J.M. Bourdeau, C.J. Sprecher, B. Krenke,
D.R. Storts, Developmental validation of the PowerPlex1 Fusion system for
analysis of casework and reference samples: a 24-locus multiplex for new
database standards, Forensic Sci. Int. 12 (2014) 69–76.
[4] E. Ramírez-Flores, M. Saiz, D. Villegas-Carmona, M.J. Alvarez-Cubero, J.C.
Alvarez, L. Vega-Navarrete, Genetic variation of 24 STR loci in a Mexican
Mestizo population from Mexico D.F, Forensic Sci. Int. 10 (2014) 4–6.
[5] Technical manual PowerPlex1 Fusion System Instructions for Use of Products
DC2402 and DC2408 Revised 3/15. http://worldwide.promega.com/resources/
protocols/technical-manuals/101/powerplex-fusion-system-protocol/:
Promega Corporation.
[6] GlobalFilerTM PCR Amplification Kit User Guide (Pub. no. 4477604). https://
tools.thermofisher.com/content/sfs/manuals/4477604. PDF: Applied
Biosystems.
[7] A. Tereba, 1999. Tools for analysis of population statistics, Profiles DNA. 3: 14–
16.
[8] The evaluation of forensic DNA evidence, National Research Council (NRC)
Committee on DNA Forensic Science, National Academic Press, Washington, D.
C, 1996.
[9] P.O. Lewis, D. Zaykin, 2015. Genetic Data Analysis (GDA): Computer program
for the analysis of allelic data version 1.1. http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/
people/plewis/software.php.
[10] C.R. Hill, D.L. Duewer, M.C. Kline, M.D. Coble, J.M. Butler, U.S. population data
for 29 autosomal STR loci, Forensic Sci. Int. 7 (2013) e82–e83.
[11] L. Excoffier, H. Lischer, Arlequin suite ver3.5: a new series of programs to
perform population genetics analyses under Linux and Windows, Mol. Ecol.
Resour. 10 (3) (2010) .
[12] IBM, SPSS Statistics for Windows, 19.0 edn., IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, 2010.
17
[13] A. Carracedo, J.M. Butler, L. Gusmão, A. Linacre, W. Parson, L. Roewer, P.M.
Schneider, New guidelines for the publication of genetic population data,
Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 7 (2013) 217–220.
Benito Ramos-González
Laboratorio de Genética Forense, Instituto de Criminalística y
Servicios Periciales, Procuraduría General de Justicia, Nuevo León,
Mexico
José Alonso Aguilar-Velázquez
Instituto de Investigación en Genética Molecular, Universidad de
Guadalajara (CUCI-UdeG), Ocotlán, Jalisco, Mexico
María de Lourdes Chávez-Brionesa,b
Juan Ramón Delgado-Chavarríaa
Elizabeth Alfaro-Lopeza
a
Laboratorio de Genética Forense, Instituto de Criminalística y
Servicios Periciales, Procuraduría General de Justicia, Nuevo León,
Mexico
b
Departamento de Patología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad
Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Héctor Rangel-Villalobos*
Instituto de Investigación en Genética Molecular, Universidad de
Guadalajara (CUCI-UdeG), Ocotlán, Jalisco, Mexico
* Corresponding author at: Instituto de Investigación en Genética
Molecular, Universidad de Guadalajara, Av. Universidad #1115,
Ocotlán, Jalisco CP 47810, México. Fax: +52 392 9257112.
E-mail addresses: benito.ramos@gmail.com (B. Ramos-González),
hrangel13@hotmail.com (H. Rangel-Villalobos).