Announcement of Population Data A reference data base on STR allele frequencies in the Belarus population developed from paternity cases Lev A. Zhivotovsky a, *, Vera M. Veremeichyk b , Nikolay N. Kuzub b , Ljubov’ A. Atramentova c , Irina G. Udina a , Nikolai A. Kartel d , Iosif S. Tsybovsky b a Institute of General Genetics, The Russian Academy of Sciences, Gubkin St. 3, Moscow 119991, Russia b Institute of Criminalistics and Forensic Expertise, Kalvarijskaya St. 43, Minsk 220073, Belarus c V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University, 4 Ploscha Svobody, Kharkiv 61077, Ukraine d Institute of Genetics and Cytology, National Academy of Sciences, Akademicheskaya St. 27, Minsk 220072, Belarus 1. Populations The present study includes data that are based on buccal swabs obtained by the personnel of the Institute of Criminalistics and Forensic Expertise (Minsk, Belarus) in the years of 2004 to the beginning of 2006 (set #1 of 580 individuals) and to the beginning of 2007 (set #2 of 530 individuals) from pairs ‘‘mother/alleged father’’ that officially requested paternity tests; some families are incomplete and do not include the mothers. The individuals are from 73 Belarus’ districts, thus representing almost all adminis- trative regions of the country; the majority of data consist of ethnic Belarusians. Spatial distribution of individuals sampled is shown in Fig. 1; the personal information contained the place where the individuals had lived, no information on their birthplace was available. For ethnic comparison, two random samples from ethnically related Slavic groups—of 190 ethnic Russians from Moscow city and 114 ethnic Ukrainians collected in the Kharkiv city (eastern Ukraine) were additionally studied; the sampling procedure was the same as described for the Belarusian samples (details on these samples are in [1]). Each population sample comprises those people from whom appropriate informed consent was obtained. 2. DNA samples, amplification, genotyping Genomic DNA samples from buccal swabs were extracted by modified procedure as described previously [1]. For allelic polymorphisms at 15 STR-loci, D3S1358, vWA, TH01, TPOX, CSF1PO, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D8S1179, D21S11, FGA, PentaE and PentaD. DNA was analyzed with multiplexed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the Power- Plex 1 2.1 and PowerPlex 1 16 Systems (Promega Corporation, Madison, WI, USA). Amplification products were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis with an automatic DNA Sequencer ‘‘MegaBACE 750’’ (‘‘Amersham Biosciences’’, USA) in a mode of genotyping or by polychrome scanning of polyacrylamide gel (T = 4.5%, C = 5%) by the laser scanner ‘‘Typhoon 8600’’ (‘‘Molecular Dynamics’’) after gel-electrophoresis in a denaturation mode. Genotypic data are included in tables A1, A2 (Suppl. material online). Forensic Science International: Genetics 3 (2009) e107–e109 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 22 March 2008 Received in revised form 31 August 2008 Accepted 11 October 2008 Keywords: Reference data base STR Paternity case Belarusian Russian Ukrainian ABSTRACT The study considers data on 15 STR-loci from paternity cases across Belarus districts from 2004 to the beginning of 2006 (set #1, 580 individuals) and since that to the beginning of 2007 (set #2, 530 individuals); the data majorly consist of ethnic Belarusians. No significant difference was found between the sets, as well as between the country districts in which the cases occurred. The allele frequencies obtained are very similar to those based on population survey at common loci. Therefore, a data base can be constructed of data from wide survey on paternity cases. Pooling the sets together provides a reference data base on the Belarus population. Additionally, we compared the allele profiles to those in other Slavic groups from the former USSR: Russians from Moscow and eastern Ukrainians from Kharkov city. ß 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +7 499 135 52 90; fax: +7 499 135 52 90. E-mail address: levazh@gmail.com (L.A. Zhivotovsky). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Forensic Science International: Genetics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fsig 1872-4973/$ – see front matter ß 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2008.10.003