Genetic Diversity of Easter Island (Rapanui) Population from Identifiler® Plus autosomal, Y-filer®, and Y-Plex™ 6 Y-STR Loci

Abstract

This study investigated the genetic diversity of the Easter Island (Rapanui) population using data on 15 autosomal Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) typed with the commercial STR kits Identifiler® Plus and 23 Y-chromosome STRs typed using Y-filer (17 loci) and Y- PLEX™ 6 (6 loci). The analysis was conducted using genotype and haplotype data of 122 presumably unrelated individuals that included 48 males and 74 females. This study: (i) examined if Easter Island population had reduced genetic diversity in comparison with cosmopolitan populations such as Mainland Chilean, Polynesian, European, and African; (ii) compared genetic affinity of the Easter Island population with historically related cosmopolitan populations; and (iii) investigated the forensic utility of autosomal STRs and Y-STRs in the Easter Island population.