Genetic diversity, forensic characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of the Qiongzhong aborigines residing in the tropical rainforests of Hainan Island via 19 autosomal STRs.

Our phylogenetic results demonstrated that (a) the populations of Southeast Asian countries have thorough integrations with southern China in terms of ethnicity and genetics due to long-term cultural and trade exchanges, and (b) based on genetic and linguistic analysis, the Qiongzhong aborigines have a close relationship with Fujian Han Chinese.HighlightsThe STR landscape of Qiongzhong aborigines inhabited in Hainan tropical rainforests was depicted by 19 autosomal STRs.A total of 69,132 people from forty-five populations were selected for a more extensive examination of genetic similarities and differences by multivariate statistical methods (MDS, PCA and N-J tree construction).The genetic analyses indicated that the populations of Southeast Asian countries are very genetically close to southern Chinese populations.From the genetic and linguistic perspective, the Qiongzhong aborigines have a close relationship with Han Chinese from Fujian Province.