Population genetic analysis of insertion–deletion polymorphisms in a Brazilian population using the Investigator DIPplex kit

Abstract The aim of this study was to estimate the diversity of 30 insertion/deletion (INDEL) markers (Investigator ® DIPplex kit) in a sample of 519 individuals from six Brazilian states and to evaluate their applicability in forensic genetics. All INDEL markers were found to be highly polymorphic in the Brazilian population and were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. To determine their forensic suitability in the Brazilian population, the markers were evaluated for discrimination power, match probability and exclusion power. The combined discrimination power (CDP), combined match power (CMP) and combined power of exclusion (CPE) were higher than 0.999999, 3.4 × 10 −13 and 0.9973, respectively. Further comparison of 29 worldwide populations revealed significant genetic differences between continental populations and a closer relationship between the Brazilian and European populations.