What is a microsatellite DNA sequence?

​Microsatellite Microsatellite, as related to genomics, refers to a short segment of DNA, usually one to six or more base pairs in length, that is repeated multiple times in succession at a particular genomic location. These DNA sequences are typically non-coding.

How do you sequence microsatellites?

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 is the nature of sequence present in microsatellites?

Microsatellites or STRs are repetitive co-dominant sequences of 2–6 bp of DNA that are present throughout the entire genome. They are often used for identification or fingerprinting of DNA. Microsatellites are amplified by PCR using fluorescently labeled primers and the amplicons are separated using CE.

What sort of sequence is found in a microsatellite region?

Microsatellites, or simple sequence repeats (SSRs), consist of repetitions of sequences less than 5 or 6 base pairs.

What is the role of microsatellite?

Microsatellites are used for assessing chromosomal DNA deletions in cancer diagnosis. Microsatellites are widely used for DNA profiling, also known as “genetic fingerprinting”, of crime stains (in forensics) and of tissues (in transplant patients).

What are microsatellites and how do they differ from SNPs?

Microsatellite polymorphisms can arise through replication slippage, unequal crossing over, or mutations extending or interrupting a series of repeats, whereas SNPs arise via point mutations. As a result, new microsatellite variations arise more frequently than new SNP variations.

What determines microsatellite sequence length?

Microsatellite lengths are typically measured by PCR amplification followed by some form of high resolution electrophoresis, amplicon visualization and size determination against a known standard.

What is MSI and MSS?

The instability of one site is called low microsatellite instability (MSI-L), and the instability of two or more sites is called high microsatellite instability (MSI-H). The instability of all five sites is called microsatellite instability (MSS).

Is SNP a microsatellite?

Second, SNPs are far more common than microsatellites, which means that a SNP map can be far denser and potentially more informative than a microsatellite map. The density of a SNP map can also be problematic for analysis methods.