An efficient ancestry informative SNPs panel for further discriminating East Asian populations

In forensic genetics, the use of ancestry informative single-nucleotide polymorphisms (AISNPs) panels can narrow the direction of the investigation by estimating an individual's biogeographic ancestry. However, distinguishing subgroups within continental regions requires more specific panels. In this study, we screened 19 AISNPs from the 1000 Genomes Project (1KG) based on their F-ST values to distinguish target populations in East Asia and obtained genotypes through SNaPshot. The 19 AISNPs could divide the global population of the 1KG into five clusters and could further divide the East Asian population into four clusters: Japanese, Han Chinese, Dai Chinese, and Kinh in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. In summary, the 19-AISNP panel may serve as a useful and cost-effective tool for forensic ancestry inference in East Asian populations at a finer scale.

Automated summary

In forensic genetics, the use of ancestry informative single-nucleotide polymorphisms (AISNPs) panels can help estimate an individual's biogeographic ancestry and narrow down the direction of the investigation. This study successfully divided the global population of the 1000 Genomes Project (1KG) into five clusters and further divided the East Asian population into four clusters using 19 AISNPs. The findings suggest that the 19-AISNP panel could be a useful and cost-effective tool for forensic ancestry inference in East Asian populations.