Development of a SNP set for human identification: A set with high powers of discrimination which yields high genetic information from naturally degraded DNA samples in the Thai population.

This study describes the development of a SNP typing system for human identification in the Thai population, in particular for extremely degraded DNA samples. A highly informative SNP marker set for forensic identification was identified, and a multiplex PCR-based Invader assay was developed. Fifty-one highly informative autosomal SNP markers and three sex determination SNP markers were amplified in two multiplex PCR reactions and then detected using Invader assay reactions.

Mitochondrial DNA history of Sri Lankan ethnic people: their relations within the island and with the Indian subcontinental populations.

Located only a short distance off the southernmost shore of the Greater Indian subcontinent, the island of Sri Lanka has long been inhabited by various ethnic populations. Mainly comprising the Vedda, Sinhalese (Up- and Low-country) and Tamil (Sri Lankan and Indian); their history of settlements on the island and the biological relationships among them have remained obscure. It has been hypothesized that the Vedda was probably the earliest inhabitants of the area, followed by Sinhalese and Tamil from the Indian mainland.

Genetic history of Southeast Asian populations as revealed by ancient and modern human mitochondrial DNA analysis.

The 360 base-pair fragment in HVS-1 of the mitochondrial genome were determined from ancient human remains excavated at Noen U-loke and Ban Lum-Khao, two Bronze and Iron Age archaeological sites in Northeastern Thailand, radio-carbon dated to circa 3,500-1,500 years BP and 3,200-2,400 years BP, respectively. These two neighboring populations were parts of early agricultural communities prevailing in northeastern Thailand from the fourth millennium BP onwards. The nucleotide sequences of these ancient samples were compared with the sequences of modern samples from various ethnic populations of East and Southeast Asia, encompassing four major linguistic affiliations (Altaic, Sino-Tibetan, Tai-Kadai, and Austroasiatic), to investigate the genetic relationships and history among them.