Forensic and population genetic analyses of Danes, Greenlanders and Somalis typed with the Yfiler® Plus PCR amplification kit

Recently, the Yfiler (R) Plus PCR Amplification Kit (Yfiler (R) Plus, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) was introduced. Yfiler (R) Plus amplifies 27 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat loci (Y-STRs) and adds ten new Y-STRs to those analysed with the commonly used AmpFlSTR (R) Yfiler (R) PCR Amplification Kit (Yfiler (R), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Seven of the new Y-STRs are rapidly mutating Y-STRs (RM Y-STRs). In this study, 551 male individuals from Denmark, Greenland and Somalia were typed with Yfiler (R) Plus. The results were compared to those obtained with Yfiler (R) in the same individuals. Forensic and population genetic parameters were estimated for Yfiler (R) Plus. Yfiler (R) Plus had a higher power of discrimination than Yfiler (R) in all three populations. Compared to Yfiler (R), Yfiler (R) Plus offers increased power of discrimination, which is obviously an advantage in crime case investigations. However, the inclusion of seven RM Y-STRs in Yfiler (R) Plus makes it less attractive for relationship testing because of the relatively high combined mutation rate, approximately 15%. (c) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.