A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF GENETIC-VARIATION AT 5 VNTR LOCI IN 3 ETHNIC-GROUPS OF HOUSTON, TEXAS

Following the technique of Southern blot restriction fragment length p olymorphisms (RFLP) analysis, we generated a database of DNA profiles at five Variable Number of Tandem Repeats loci (D1S7, D2S44, D4S139, D 10S28, and D17S79) for 669 individuals of three major ethnic populatio ns (Caucasians, Blacks, and Hispanics) of Houston, Texas. Analysis of fragment sizes at these loci within each sample, as well as their fixe d-bin analyses, reveal that the assumptions of independence of allelic occurrences within and between loci are valid for this database. Fixe d-bin allele frequency tables, therefore, are the best descriptors of this database for conservative forensic calculations. Finally, we demo nstrate that this regional database from Houston, Texas, does not yiel d any meaningfully different forensic inference than the one obtained from the National database of the respective ethnic groups.