Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2007 Feb;5(1):7-14.
doi: 10.1016/S1672-0229(07)60009-6.

A brief review of short tandem repeat mutation

Hao Fan  1 , Jia-You Chu
Affiliations
Review

A brief review of short tandem repeat mutation

Hao Fan et al. Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics. 2007 Feb.

Abstract

Short tandem repeats (STRs) are short tandemly repeated DNA sequences that involve a repetitive unit of 1-6 bp. Because of their polymorphisms and high mutation rates, STRs are widely used in biological research. Strand-slippage replication is the predominant mutation mechanism of STRs, and the stepwise mutation model is regarded as the main mutation model. STR mutation rates can be influenced by many factors. Moreover, some trinucleotide repeats are associated with human neurodegenerative diseases. In order to deepen our knowledge of these diseases and broaden STR application, it is essential to understand the STR mutation process in detail. In this review, we focus on the current known information about STR mutation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic illustration of the strand-slippage replication at STR .
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Tautz D. Notes on the defunction and nomenclature of tandemly repetitive DNA sequences. In: Pena S.D.J., editor. DNA Fingerprinting: State of the Science. Birkhauser Verlag; Basel, Switzerland: 1993. pp. 21–28.
    1. Koreth J. Microsatellites and PCR genomic analysis. J. Pathol. 1996;178:239–248. - PubMed
    1. Ellegren H. Heterogeneous mutation processes in human microsatellite DNA sequences. Nat. Genet. 2000;24:400–402. - PubMed
    1. Subramanian S. Genome-wide analysis of microsatellite repeats in humans: their abundance and density in specific genomic regions. Genome Biol. 2003;4:R13. - PMC - PubMed
    1. International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome. Nature. 2001;409:860–921. - PubMed