Background: Tunisia has a complex demographic history of migrations from within Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. However, only one population study based on X-STR markers has been reported so far.
Aim: To investigate the genetic polymorphisms of 17 X-STRs in two Tunisian populations from the cities of Sousse and Makthar, and to reveal the genetic relationships with other reference populations.
Subjects and methods: A total of 194 unrelated healthy individuals were analysed for 17 X-STR markers.
Results: Our results indicate that DXS6809 is the most polymorphic locus, whereas DXS6807 is the least informative marker in the populations of Sousse and Makthar. In addition, forensic statistical parameters, such as the power of discrimination in males and females, as well as the mean of exclusion in duos and trios, reveal that the panel of 17 X-STRs is highly informative and useful in different forensic applications. Overall, pairwise genetic distances (Fst) and non-metric MDS plots demonstrate clustering of different populations according to their geographic locations and their historical relationships.
Conclusion: Overall, the study of X-STR markers of the Tunisian populations can help to promote the establishment of a forensic DNA reference database in Tunisia and provide reference for future anthropological research.
Keywords: Tunisia; X-chromosome database; forensic genetics; short tandem repeats.