Germline mutations at 15 STR loci in the Chinese population

Germline mutation of 15 short tandem repeat (STR) loci was studied for over 52,000 parent-offspring allelic transfers in the Chinese population. Mutation rates varied from <0.056% to 0.507% (FGA, paternal) and the overall paternal to maternal mutation ratio approximately 5% to 1.94% of the mutations could be explained by losses or gains of one repeat unit and there was no evidence for selection between insertion or deletion changes. Possible silent alleles were detected in three of the paternal exclusions. Mutation data accumulated for the Chinese population was compared with those of the American and European populations. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.