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Microsatellite
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{{Short description|Repeating sequences of 2–13 base pairs of DNA}} {{About|the DNA sequence|small orbiting spacecraft|Microsatellite (spaceflight)}} A '''microsatellite''' is a tract of repetitive [[DNA]] in which certain [[Sequence motif|DNA motifs]] (ranging in length from one to six or more [[base pairs]]) are repeated, typically 5–50 times.<ref name="Richard 2008"/><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Tóth G, Gáspári Z, Jurka J | title = Microsatellites in different eukaryotic genomes: survey and analysis | journal = Genome Research | volume = 10 | issue = 7 | pages = 967–981 | date = July 2000 | pmid = 10899146 | pmc = 310925 | doi = 10.1101/gr.10.7.967 }}</ref> Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's [[genome]]. They have a higher [[mutation]] rate than other areas of DNA<ref name="Brinkmann-1998"/> leading to high [[genetic diversity]]. Microsatellites are often referred to as '''short tandem repeats''' ('''STRs''') by [[forensic genetics|forensic geneticists]] and in [[genetic genealogy]], or as '''simple sequence repeats''' ('''SSRs''') by plant geneticists.<ref>{{MeshName|Short+Tandem+Repeat}}</ref> Microsatellites and their longer cousins, the [[minisatellite]]s, together are classified as [[variable number tandem repeat|VNTR]] (variable number of [[tandem repeat]]s) DNA. The name [[Satellite DNA|"satellite" DNA]] refers to the early observation that centrifugation of genomic DNA in a test tube separates a prominent layer of bulk DNA from accompanying "satellite" layers of repetitive DNA.<ref name="Kit1">{{cite journal | vauthors = Kit S | title = Equilibrium sedimentation in density gradients of DNA preparations from animal tissues | journal = Journal of Molecular Biology | volume = 3 | issue = 6 | pages = 711–6 | date = December 1961 | pmid = 14456492 | doi = 10.1016/S0022-2836(61)80075-2 }}</ref> They are widely used for [[DNA profiling]] in [[Loss of heterozygosity#Detection|cancer diagnosis]], in [[kinship]] analysis (especially [[DNA paternity testing|paternity testing]]) and in forensic identification. They are also used in [[genetic linkage]] analysis to locate a gene or a mutation responsible for a given trait or disease. Microsatellites are also used in [[population genetics]] to measure levels of relatedness between subspecies, groups and individuals.
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