Abstract
Mongol-like-horsemen-turned-merchants from Manchuria are known as Manchus, originally their homeland was centered around what is nowadays the city of Shenyang in Northeast China. Previously, worldwide analysis of Y-chromosomal haplotype diversity for 23 STR loci and Y-STR databases with PowerPlex® Y23 System (Promega Corporation Madison, USA) kit were created with collaborative efforts, but Manchu population data was missing. In current study, PowerPlex® Y23 System loci were examined in 328 unrelated Manchu male individuals from Xiuyan and Huanren Manchu autonomous counties in Liaoning province, to calculate the forensic parameters of the 23 STR loci. A total of 323 different haplotypes were observed on these 23 Y-STR loci. The gene diversities ranged from 0.3820 (DYS391) to 0.9696 (DYS385a, b). The overall haplotype diversity was 0.9999 ± 0.0002 at PowerPlex® Y23 System. Rst pairwise analyses, multidimensional scaling plot, and linear discriminatory analysis showed the genetic structure of Manchu population was significantly different from some of Chinese populations like Tibetan and Uyghur. Results of our study showed that PowerPlex® Y23 System marker set provided substantially stronger discriminatory power in Manchu population of China.