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Homogeneity in mitochondrial DNA control region sequences in Swedish subpopulations

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Abstract

In order to promote mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing in Sweden we have typed 296 Swedish males, which will serve as a Swedish mtDNA frequency database. The tested males were taken from seven geographically different regions representing the contemporary Swedish population. The complete mtDNA control region was typed and the Swedish population was shown to have high haplotype diversity with a random match probability of 0.5%. Almost 47% of the tested samples belonged to haplogroup H and further haplogroup comparison with worldwide populations clustered the Swedish mtDNA data together with other European populations. AMOVA analysis of the seven Swedish subregions displayed no significant maternal substructure in Sweden (F ST = 0.002). Our conclusion from this study is that the typed Swedish individuals serve as good representatives for a Swedish forensic mtDNA database. Some caution should, however, be taken for individuals from the northernmost part of Sweden (provinces of Norrbotten and Lapland) due to specific demographic conditions. Furthermore, our analysis of a small sample set of a Swedish Saami population confirmed earlier findings that the Swedish Saami population is an outlier among European populations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Anders Götherström for valuable discussions and for giving fruitful comments on the manuscript. The authors also would like to thank Jodi Irwin, Jessica Saunier, Melissa Scheible, Toni Diegoli, and Kimberly Sturk (AFDIL) for data generation and review. We also thank Dr. Walther Parson (ILM; Innsbruck, Austria) and EMPOP for the quality control review of the data and one anonymous reviewer for improving the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Genetics and Forensic Toxicology, National Board of Forensic Medicine, Artillerigatan 12, 58758, Linköping, Sweden

    Andreas O. Tillmar & Gunilla Holmlund

  2. Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, Rockville, MD, USA

    Michael D. Coble

  3. Department of Archaeology and Religious Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

    Thomas Wallerström

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  1. Andreas O. Tillmar
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  2. Michael D. Coble
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  4. Gunilla Holmlund
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Correspondence to Andreas O. Tillmar.

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Tillmar, A.O., Coble, M.D., Wallerström, T. et al. Homogeneity in mitochondrial DNA control region sequences in Swedish subpopulations. Int J Legal Med 124, 91–98 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-009-0354-7

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