Abstract
Microsatellites are simple sequence repeats (SSR) of 1-6 nucleotides. They appear to be ubiquitous in higher organisms, both in animal and plant genomes and involving repetitive as well as unique sequences, although the frequency of microsatellites varies between species. They are abundant, dispersed throughout the genome and show higher levels of polymorphism than do other genetic markers. These features coupled with their ease of detection have made them useful markers. Their potential for automation and their inheritance in a co-dominant manner are additional advantages when compared with other types of molecular markers. SSRs are highly polymorphic, genome specific, abundant and co-dominant, and have recently become important genetic markers in cereals including wheat and barley. Key words: Simple sequence repeat, allelic diversity, polymorphism, co-dominance, microsatellites, genetic diversity.
Highlights
With the advances in understanding the sequence organization of genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a class of repetitive DNA sequences was found to be an integral part of the eukaryotic genome
In comparison with the high polymorphism of genomic simple sequence repeats (SSR), expressed sequence tag (EST)-SSRs are less powerful in providing information on genetic variations (Eujayl et al, 2002; Thiel et al, 2003)
Microsatellite markers may be detected in the eukaryotic genome, because interspersed and simple repeats may well overlap regions transcribed by ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase, including ESTs in humans, tandem repeat polymorphisms in human genes being more common than generally believed with about 8% of such loci being within the coding sequence and if polymorphic, resulting in a frame shift (Wren et al, 2001)
Summary
Microsatellites are simple sequence repeats (SSR) of 1-6 nucleotides They appear to be ubiquitous in higher organisms, both in animal and plant genomes and involving repetitive as well as unique sequences, the frequency of microsatellites varies between species. They are abundant, dispersed throughout the genome and show higher levels of polymorphism than do other genetic markers. These features coupled with their ease of detection have made them useful markers.
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