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Close genetic relationship between central Thai and Mon people in Thailand revealed by autosomal microsatellites

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Abstract

Central Thailand is home to diverse populations with the central Thai constituting the major group, while the Mon, who migrated from southern Myanmar, are sparsely distributed within the region. A total of 338 individuals of eight central Thai (246 samples) and three Mon populations (92 samples) were newly genotyped. When combined with our previously published Mon data, this provides a total of 139 Mon samples. We found genetic similarity between the central Thai and Mon and weak sub-structuring among Thais from central, northern, and northeastern Thailand. The forensic parameter results show high discrimination values which are appropriate for forensic personal identification and paternity testing in both the central Thai and Mon; the probabilities of excluding paternity are 0.999999112 and 0.999999031, respectively, and the combined discrimination power is 0.9999999999999999999999 in both groups. This regional allelic frequency on forensic microsatellites may serve as a useful reference for further forensic investigations in both Thailand and Myanmar.

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Data availability

The raw genotyped data are reported in the Supplementary Materials.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all volunteers for donating their buccal cells and village chiefs for their participation. J.K. acknowledges the support provided by Chiang Mai University in Thailand.

Funding

S.S. was supported by Khon Kaen University under a research fund for supporting lecturers to admit high-potential students to study and research (592T224). W.K. was supported by the Thailand Research Fund (RSA6180058).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

S.S., M.S., J.K., S.R., P.P., and W.K. collected the samples. S.S., M.S., and K.M. extracted the DNA and performed genotyping. S.S. and D.L. analyzed the data. S.S. drafted the first manuscript with input from all authors. W.K. designed the project and drafted and edited the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wibhu Kutanan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Ethical approval for this study was provided by Khon Kaen University and Naresuan University.

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Srithawong, S., Muisuk, K., Srikummool, M. et al. Close genetic relationship between central Thai and Mon people in Thailand revealed by autosomal microsatellites. Int J Legal Med 135, 445–448 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-020-02290-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-020-02290-4

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