How do you make microsatellite?
Microsatellites are simple sequence tandem repeats (SSTRs). The repeat units are generally di-, tri- tetra- or pentanucleotides. For example, a common repeat motif in birds is ACn, where the two nucleotides A and C are repeated in bead-like fashion a variable number of times (n could range from 8 to 50).
What are microsatellite primers?
Description. Microsatellites, like minisatellites, represent tandem repeats, but their repeat motifs are shorter (1-6 base pairs). If nucleotide sequences in the flanking regions of the microsatellite are known, specific primers (generally 20-25 bp) can be designed to amplify the microsatellite by PCR.
Where can I find microsatellite markers?
Microsatellites are highly reproducible and specific, and are easily identified from genome sequences by bioinformatics data mining [20–22]. Microsatellite polymorphisms can be detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification followed by DNA electrophoresis [8,23].
What do microsatellites do?
Microsatellite sequences are repetitive DNA sequences usually several base pairs in length. Microsatellite sequences are composed of non-coding DNA and are not parts of genes. They are used as genetic markers to follow the inheritance of genes in families.
Why are microsatellites more popular than minisatellites?
Microsatellites are more popular than minisatellites as DNA markers, for two reasons. First, minisatellites are not spread evenly around the genome but tend to be found more frequently in the telomeric regions at the ends of chromosomes.
Are microsatellites neutral?
Most microsatellites behave as selectively neutral markers, but some have been found to be influenced by selection (e.g., in Cortazar-Chinarro et al., 2017), presumably because of their linkage to other loci that are under selection.
How do microsatellites evolve?
One model of microsatellite evolution posits that stationary length distributions arise from a balance between length mutations, which tend to promote repeat growth, and point mutations, which tend to break long repeat arrays into smaller units.
Why do scientists use microsatellites now?
These agents are widely used for forensic identification and relatedness testing, and are predominant genetic markers in this area of application. The application of microsatellites is an extending web and covers the varied scenarios of science, such as, conservation biology, plant genetics, and population studies.