Genetic relationships between Ewenki minority in Inner Mongolia and other 14 groups

Objective: To study the STR genetic structure of an Ewenki Ethnic minority Group of Inner Mongolia, and analyze the genetic relationship among Ewenki and other 14 groups. Methods: Genetic distribution for 9 STR loci (D3S1358, vWA, FGA, TH01, TPOX, CSF1PO, D5S818, D13S317, and D7S820) were determined based on gene scan marked by fluorescence. Principle component analysis was performed using SPSS. Results: Sixty-four alleles and 158 genotypes were observed in 90 unrelated Ewenki individuals. The corresponding gene frequency and genotype frequency was 0.0056 to 0.4722 and 0.0111 to 0.3, respectively. The expected and observed genotype frequency of the 9 STR loci were in accordance with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05). The principle component analysis showed that Ewenki clustered with groups of Monglian and Tujue language branch. Conclusion: Nine of the STR genetic structure of an Ewenki Ethnic minority Group of Inner Mongolia were obtained. Those ethnic groups in subfamilies of Altaic language family clustered as their geographical location and those with close genetic relationships use similar language.