Molecular diversity of 23-YSTR markers in Iraqi populations

Abstract

Iraq is home to the ancient civilization, of Mesopotamia. The population genetics of Iraqis is important due to their ethnic diversity. This study aimed to analyze is to analyze the distribution of Y chromosome haplotypes in a sample of 680 native Iraqi males from regions of Iraq and compare it to previously published Y chromosome haplotype data from some neighboring Arab populations.In this study, A total of 680 unrelated samples (not belonging to the same nuclear family) of healthy males were sampled for the Y-STR analysis from the Iraqi populations in Baghdad. blood samples were collected at the ministry of health/medical legal Directorate/paternity and Baghdad from 2018 to 2020. Allele frequency and gene diversity were calculated. The Iraqi population data were compared with the neighboring populations using pairwise genetic distances using the Y Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database Website (YHRD) software.The discrimination capacity 23 STR loci provide was (0.92). The number of haplotypes observed in 680 samples, was 616 haplotypes (568 unique and 48 shared haplotypes). Haplogroup prediction suggests that haplogroup J1 is the most common in the Iraqi population, followed by J2. According to AMOVA and MD, showed high similarities with neighboring countries. We can conclude that there is no genetic structure among the populations and their data could be added to reference the Iraqi database.