Population genetic analysis of 30 insertion–deletion (INDEL) loci in a Qinghai Tibetan group using the Investigator DIPplex Kit

The Qiagen Investigator® DIPplex Kit multiplexes 30 autosomal INDELs plus amelogenin for forensic use. The aim of this study was to estimate the diversity of 30 INDEL loci in a sample of 530 Tibetan individuals from Qinghai Province, China, and to evaluate the usefulness of these loci for forensic genetics. The observed heterozygosity ranged from 14.3 to 53.4%, and combined power of discrimination, matching probability, and cumulative probability of exclusion were 0.99999999999172, 8.27999 × 10 −12 , and 0.9897, respectively, in the Qinghai Tibetan group. The results of pairwise genetic distance, principal component analysis, a multi-dimensional scaling plot, and a neighbour-joining tree between the Qinghai Tibetan and 49 reference populations revealed significant genetic differences between continental populations and a close genetic relationship between the Qinghai Tibetan and East Asian populations. This study indicates that the Investigator® DIPplex Kit can serve as an effective supplementary tool for forensic genetic tasks.