POPULATION DATA Population data of 21 autosomal STR loci in the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba people of Nigeria Victoria O. Okolie 1 & Selena Cisana 2 & Moses S. Schanfield 2 & Khalid O. Adekoya 1 & Olufemi A. Oyedeji 3 & Daniele Podini 2 Received: 4 August 2017 /Accepted: 20 October 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 Abstract The three major ethnic groups of Nigerian popula- tion namely the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba make up 29, 21 and 18% of the total population, respectively. To provide genetic information necessary for forensic analysis, this study was carried out to determine STR allele frequencies in 102 Hausa, 128 Igbo and 134 Yoruba individuals in Nigeria using 21 STR loci including the 20 CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) loci plus SE33. Keywords STR . Allele frequencies . Gene diversity . PE Nigeria accounts for approximately one sixth of African popula- tion and is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups which confer a diverse cultural background. Of these 250 groups, based on their subpopulation size, there are three major ethnic groups namely the Hausa, the Igbo and the Yoruba which make up 29, 21 and 18% of the population, respectively [1]. Individuals for this study have been sampled from Lagos state which is the most populated as well as the most cosmopolitan state in Nigeria with a population of 21 million. This study examines the allele fre- quency distributions of 21 autosomal STRs (CSF1PO, D1S1656, D2S1338, D2S441, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D10S1248, D12S391, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, D22S1045, FGA, TH01, TPOX, SE33 and vWA) for Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba populations in Nigeria. These loci have been shown in various studies to suffi- ciently provide genetic information necessary for forensic analy- sis [2–5]. A total of 364 unrelated individuals from 102 Hausa, 128 Igbo and 134 Yoruba groups were sampled for this study. Ethical approval was obtained from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital Health Research and ethics committee. Informed consent was duly obtained from all participants and the objective of the study was carefully explained to vol- unteers. Samples were then anonymized through the rest of the study. DNA blood samples were stored on DNA cards (Cellmark, UK) and extraction was carried out on the non- FTA blood cards using a modified Chelex ® 5% (BIO- RAD, California USA) extraction method. Primers supplied in the Qiagen™ Investigator 24plex GO! Kit was used for the amplification of the STR loci with a modification of the man- ufacturer ’ s protocol. PCR amplification was performed on GeneAmp 9700 (Thermo Fischer Scientific™, Waltham, MA, USA.) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) was performed on the Applied Biosystems 3130 Genetic Analyzers (Thermo Fischer Scientific™) according to a modification of the man- ufacturer’ s instructions. Allele frequencies and other forensic parameters were cal- culated including the polymorphism information content (PIC), observed heterozygotes (Ho), expected heterozygosity (He), power of exclusion, random man not excluded (RMNE), likelihood match, power of discrimination, effective number of alleles; minimum allele frequency (MAF), average number of alleles per locus and combined power of exclusion (CPE) were also calculated (ESM Sheet 1). The values for these parameters were derived using a MS Excel data analysis tool. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-017-1722-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Victoria O. Okolie ogomokolie@yahoo.com 1 Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria 2 Department of Forensic Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA 3 Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria Int J Legal Med https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-017-1722-3