US Y-STR Database
Y-STR haplotype frequencies are required to provide a statistical estimate of the significance of a match. The National Center for Forensic Science (NCFS), in conjunction with the Y-STR Consortium, has created a comprehensive, online Y-STR reference database of more than 13,000 haplotypes.
The U.S. Y-STR Database, a searchable listing of 11- to 17-locus Y-STR haplotypes, was developed by combining data from NCFS with databases from government, commercial, and academic resources throughout the United States. The database provides tools for laboratories to obtain Y-STR haplotype frequencies needed to calculate matching or paternity probabilities with confidence intervals. Other features include the ability to simultaneously upload multiple haplotypes for searches directly from Genotyper® and GeneMapper® text files, the ability to include or exclude sampled populations, and a report-style printout of the results. Samples are divided into five forensically relevant ancestries: African-American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic and Native American.
All forensic laboratories and institutions are invited to contribute to the U.S. Y-STR Database. The resulting increase in the database size and the inclusion of geographically and ethnically varied population groups will increase the scientific and forensic efficacy of the database.
Note: This database does not function like the more commonly used CODIS database. This is a population database only and is intended for use in estimating Y-STR haplotype population frequencies for forensic case work purposes. It cannot be used to identify a particular individual whose sample is in the database. All donors are anonymous, haplotypes cannot be traced back to specific individuals, and original electropherograms do not exist in a curated fashion.
