Genetic Diversity of Southeast African Bantus and African Americans using the PowerPlex Y23 System

The aim of this investigation is to determine the capacity of the newly available Y-STR multiplex system, PowerPlex® Y23, to discriminate between populations of similar ancestry, specifically of African descent. Using network analysis, the partitioning of the 23-loci haplotypes was assessed in relation to Y-specific haplogroups. In the network projection, a number of Bantu haplogroups including E1b1a1a1a-M58, B2a1a-M109 and E2b-M98 as well as non-Bantu African haplogroups such as B2b2-M115 and A1b1b2b1-M118 segregate differentially based on Y-STR haplotypes. Further, we contrast population genetics parameters of the Bantu Southeast African and African American populations. Also, the genetic distance values illustrate the robust capacity of the PowerPlex® Y23 system to discriminate among populations. Noteworthy, we demonstrate that the two populations of African ancestry are as genetically different from each other as the African American population is from the Caucasian, Hispanic and Native American groups. For the first time, allelic and genotypic frequencies for the 23 Y-STR loci included in the PowerPlex® Y23 forensic system are provided for a continental Southeast African population, the Bantu from the Maputo Province.