Microsatellites: genomic distribution, putative functions and mutational mechanisms: a review
Microsatellites, or tandem simple sequence repeats (SSR), are abundant across genomes and show high levels of polymorphism. SSR genetic and evolutionary mechanisms remain controversial. Here we attempt to summarize the available data related to SSR distribution in coding and noncoding regions of gen...
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Published in | Molecular ecology Vol. 11; no. 12; pp. 2453 - 2465 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford, UK
Blackwell Science Ltd
01.12.2002
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Microsatellites, or tandem simple sequence repeats (SSR), are abundant across genomes and show high levels of polymorphism. SSR genetic and evolutionary mechanisms remain controversial. Here we attempt to summarize the available data related to SSR distribution in coding and noncoding regions of genomes and SSR functional importance. Numerous lines of evidence demonstrate that SSR genomic distribution is nonrandom. Random expansions or contractions appear to be selected against for at least part of SSR loci, presumably because of their effect on chromatin organization, regulation of gene activity, recombination, DNA replication, cell cycle, mismatch repair system, etc. This review also discusses the role of two putative mutational mechanisms, replication slippage and recombination, and their interaction in SSR variation. |
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Bibliography: | ArticleID:MEC1643 ark:/67375/WNG-B0MP4S0W-7 istex:FA0F9CAEFB1ABCD5907F8335EA18D11C4FFF1339 Current address: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 857‐21, USA ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 ObjectType-Review-3 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0962-1083 1365-294X |
DOI: | 10.1046/j.1365-294X.2002.01643.x |