phylotree.org; Build 16; [8]). The random match probability was calculated as sum of squares of the haplotype frequencies [9]. Genetic diversity indices were calculated using the ARLEQUIN software (Version 3.5) [10]. C-Stretch length variants in HVS-I (around 16,193), HVS-II (around 309) and HVS-III (around 573) were ignored for calculating random match probabilities and genetic diversity indices. The

mtDNA control region sequence analysis in three Macedonian ethnic groups consisting of 444 individuals (148 Albanians, 150 Turks and 146 Romanies) showed 108 different haplotypes (73%) in Albanians, 100 (66.7%) in Turks and 64 (43.8%) in Romanies, respectively (Tables 1 and S1). Thereof, 87 (80.6%), 74 (74%) and 42 (65.6%) were unique and haplotype diversity was 0.983, 0.986 and 0.966 respectively (Table 1). AMOVA was performed taking into consideration the following published XL184 datasets: Macedonia [1], Greece [11], Cyprus [11], Hungarian Ashkenazi [12], Hungarian Baranya Romany [13], Hungarians from Budapest [13], Romanian Csango [14] and Romanian Szekely [14]. Fst comparison, pairwise differences and shared haplotypes are given in ESM 1. The distribution of observed lineages differed between the three investigated populations

(Table Y-27632 molecular weight 2). Albanians showed a relatively high abundance of hg H12 lineages (8.8%) that were generally rare elsewhere, 1.3% in northern Greeks [11] and 3% in Orthodox Macedonians [1]. Romanies showed high frequencies of hgs H7a1a (10.3%) and M5a1 (13.7%) that is common in the South Asian phylogeny [15]. This emphasizes the requirement of regional databases when assessing haplotype frequencies in a forensic context. The authors would like to thank all volunteers that participated in this study. This work leading to these results has received funding DNA Synthesis inhibitor from the European Union Seventh Framework

Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 285487 (EUROFORGEN-NoE) and was in part supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P22880-B12]. Also, we would like to thank colleagues from Macedonia, especially to d-r Agim Ramadani and Sefedin Biljali for their help during samples collection. “
“Humans shed about 100 head hairs daily, mostly during hair grooming. A struggle involving hair pulling, however, can greatly accelerate hair loss. Therefore, head hairs from the victim or from the putative offender are frequently found at crime scenes, especially crimes of violence [1], [2] and [3]. Short Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis of the hair root can identify the donor of the hair. In many forensic cases however, no reportable STR profiles are obtained from hairs collected at crime scenes [4] and [5], which can be explained by the growth phase of the hair.