Constituting a Y chromosome short tandem repeats loci database in Sicily

Many Y chromosome short tandem repeats (STRs) have been studied and characterized over the past years. A few Y-STRs multiplex kits have been placed on the market for forensic and population study purposes. The aim of our work was to analyse a sample of Sicilian male individuals to evaluate the allelic frequency and, thus, the possibility to implement a genetic database. An 11 loci Y-STR Typing kit was used to yield haplotype profiles from male DNA; amplification products were detected on ABI PRISM 310 Genetic Analyzer and examined by Genemapper v 3.2 (Applied Biosystems). The population sample subjected to the screening resulted to be very different with regards to certain loci whereas for other loci the allelic profile was less variable. Despite a minor discrimination power within the entire population, Y-STRs represent a valid tool to simplify male/female DNA mixture interpretation which is a major challenge when biological traces are found in case of sexual assault.