Population genetic data on the thirteen CODIS short tandem repeat loci in Koreans

We analyzed variations at thirteen Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) short tandem repeat (STR) loci (CSF1PO, FGA, THO1, TPOX, vWA, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, and D21S11) in a sample from 130 unrelated individuals in the Korean population. Allele and genotype frequencies were determined using commercial PCR amplification kits. The Exact Test demonstrated that all loci were found to be no deviations from Hardy-Weinberg expectations (P > 0.05). The distribution pattern of allele frequencies of the 13 STR loci reflected a common genetic affinity in contemporary populations from east Asians, but the Koreans are more closely related with the Chinese than to the Japanese and Vietnamese in east Asians surveyed so far. Based on the results of allele frequencies of the 13 CODIS STR loci, Koreans studied here were the most significantly different from those of African-American and Caucasian. For forensic testing, the power of discrimination (PD) index ranged from 0.760 at TPOX to 0.961 at FGA. The combined probability of match (PM) calculated from all 13 core CODIS STR loci was 1.94 x 10(-14), which is highly informative. Therefore, the Korean 13 CODIS STR data could be useful for the regional specific and prerequisite references to the forensic community.