基于454 GS FLX高通量测序的南疆沙蜥微卫星特征分析及其候选引物设计

南疆沙蜥Phrynocephalus forsythii是我国特有的一种小型爬行动物,分布于塔里木盆地。利用Roche 454 GS FLX高通量测序对该物种基因组测序,获得了55 909条高质量序列。利用Krait搜索并初步统计和分析基因组微卫星序列,共得到1～6个碱基重复类型的完美型微卫星12 109个。不同类型微卫星中,四碱基重复类型数目最多,有4 037个,约占总数的33.34%,其次是二碱基,约占总数的28.09%,再是三碱基、单碱基、五碱基和六碱基,分别约占总数的18.72%、13.91%、4.48%和1.46%。单碱基微卫星中C最多,二碱基微卫星中AC最多,三碱基、四碱基、五碱基和六碱基中最多的分别是AAC、AAAT、AAAAT和AACCCT。AC、AAAT、C、AG、A、AAC、AAT、AAAC、ACC和ACG是数量最多的10种重复拷贝类别。挑选部分三、四碱基重复类型的微卫星序列设计了100对可用于后续对南疆沙蜥微卫星标记开发的候选引物。本研究开启了对南疆沙蜥基因组微卫星特征的了解,为利用微卫星标记研究南疆沙蜥种群遗传结构奠定了基础。     

基于454 GS FLX高通量测序的四川山鹧鸪基因组微卫星特征分析

为了有效地保护四川山鹧鸪Arborophila rufipectus这一中国特有珍稀濒危鸟类,本研究采用454 GS FLX对该物种基因组测序,首次利用微卫星搜索软件搜索并初步统计和分析基因组微卫星序列,共搜索到l~6个碱基重复类型的完美型微卫星335 263个。不同类型微卫星中,单碱基重复类型数目最多,为197 913个,约占总数的59.03%,其次是四碱基、三碱基、六碱基、二碱基和五碱基,分别约占微卫星总数的13.59%、8.39%、7.55%、6.49%和4.95%。单碱基微卫星中A重复类型数量最多,两碱基中AC最多,三碱基中AAC,四碱基中AAAC最多,五碱基中AAACA最多,六碱基中AGGGTT最多。A、AGGGTT、AAAC、AC、AAAT、AAC、C、AG、AAAG、AAACA、AAT、AGG、AT、AGC、AAGG、CCG是在所搜索到的四川山鹧鸪微卫星中数量最多的16种重复拷贝类型。本研究深化了对四川山鹧鸪基因组的认识和了解,并为以后开发和筛选大量高质量微卫星标记提供数据支持,也为利用微卫星标记研究更加有效地保护和管理四川山鹧鸪这一珍稀濒危动物奠定了基础。     

大熊猫和北极熊基因组微卫星分布特征比较分析

本研究比较分析了大熊猫和北极熊全基因组序列中的1~6碱基重复的完美型微卫星序列的分布特征,通过微卫星序列搜索和统计软件MSDB分析分别得到855 018和936 238个微卫星序列,其长度总和分别是14 919 240 bp和18 434 348 bp;分别占基因组大小的0.64%和0.79%,大熊猫和北极熊基因组总丰度分别是371.8个/Mb和405.6个/Mb,二者基因组中微卫星都是单碱基重复的最多,其次是二碱基、四碱基、三碱基和五碱基,六碱基重复类型的数量最少。大熊猫和北极熊含量最丰富的重复拷贝类别主要有A、AC、AG、AAAT、AAAG、AT和C等。本研究为后续开发和筛选大量高质量的熊科物种微卫星标记提供了数据支持。     

红原鸡全基因组中微卫星分布规律研究

本文对红原鸡Gallus gallus全基因组中微卫星数量及分布规律进行了分析,查找到l～6个碱基重复类型的微卫星序列共282728个,约占全基因组序列(1.1Gb)的0.49%,分布频率为1/3.89kb,微卫星序列的长度主要在12～70个碱基长度范围内。第1、2、3条染色体上微卫星分布频率较高,而32号染色体上无微卫星分布。不同类型微卫星中,单碱基重复类型数目最多,为184192个,占总数的65.1%;其次是四、二、三、五、六碱基重复单元序列,分别占到总数的12.8%、9.7%、7.2%、4.6%、0.8%。T、A、AT、GTTT、AAAC、G、C、ATTT、AC、GT、AAAT、ATT、AAC、AAT、GTT、AG、CT、CTTT、AAAG、GTTTT、AAACA、AAGG、CCTT是红原鸡基因组中最主要的微卫星重复类型。本研究为红原鸡微卫星标记的分离筛选、遗传多样性的研究以及不同物种微卫星的比较分析奠定了基础。     

林麝全基因组微卫星分布规律研究

林麝Moschus berezovskii是中国重要的资源动物,也是国家Ⅰ级重点保护野生动物。本研究使用生物信息学方法,分析林麝全基因组中完美型微卫星的分布特征。在林麝2.53 Gb的基因组序列中,共搜索到665 524个完美型微卫星,总长度为11 517 784 bp,占基因组序列总长度的0.42%,总丰度为244个/Mb。林麝基因组中,单碱基微卫星序列数量最多,为221 058个,约占总微卫星数的33.22%,丰度为81.05个/Mb,然后依次为二碱基、五碱基、三碱基、四碱基、六碱基重复类型微卫星。林麝基因组中数目最多的10种微卫星类别依次为:A、AACTG、AGC、AC、AT、AG、AAAT、AAC、AAT和AAAC,占所有基因组微卫星的93.2%,表现出明显的A、T偏好。林麝基因组微卫星序列分布研究表明,其在外显子(2 530个)上的分布数量远低于内含子(200 906个)和基因间隔区(454 596个),与前人关于微卫星在非编码区的分布多于编码区的结论一致。本研究为深入研究林麝基因组特征及筛选更多优良微卫星标记提供了基础数据。     

诸氏鲻虾虎鱼转录组序列中微卫星标记的初步筛选及特征分析

旨在为大规模开发诸氏鲻虾虎鱼微卫星标记,采用高通量测序技术,对诸氏鲻虾虎鱼肝脏转录组进行了测序。结果共获得47 979条Unigenes,利用微卫星查找程序在47 979条Unigenes中共获得6 225个微卫星位点(12.97%),平均每7.02 kb就出现1个微卫星位点。6 225个微卫星位点由226种重复基序组成,主要分布在三、四和五碱基重复类型中。在数量上,单碱基重复类型微卫星位点最多,占42.49%,二碱基和三碱基重复类型所占比例相似,分别为25.22%和26.27%,四、五、六重复类型较少,合计占6.03%。单碱基重复序列中最多的类型为A/T,二碱基重复序列中以AG/CT重复单元为主,三碱基重复序列中以AGC/TCG为优势类型。挑选部分二、三和四单元重复类型微卫星序列,共设计76对引物,可稳定扩增出目的条带的有55对,其中32对具有多态性。结果表明,利用诸氏鲻虾虎鱼转录组数据可快速大量开发微卫星标记。     

红尾蚺和原矛头蝮基因组微卫星分布特征比较分析

本研究分析比较了红尾蚺Boa constrictor和原矛头蝮Protobothrops mucrosquamatus基因组微卫星的分布特征,通过MISA分别鉴定出398 860个和422 364个微卫星,其长度分别为8 550 741 bp和12 243 226 bp,分别占基因组序列总长度的0.59%和0.73%,在各自基因组中的丰度分别为275.46个/Mbp和252.33个/Mbp。红尾蚺基因组中单碱基重复类型微卫星最多,其次是四碱基、二碱基、三碱基、五碱基和六碱基,最丰富的5种微卫星类型是A、AC、AAAT、AG、AAT;原矛头蝮基因组中单碱基重复类型微卫星最多,其次是三碱基、四碱基、二碱基、五碱基和六碱基,最丰富的5种微卫星类型是A、AAT、AC、C、AAAT。红尾蚺和原矛头蝮微卫星在基因组不同区域丰度不同,基因间区丰度最高,其次是内含子和外显子,编码区微卫星丰度最低,表明编码区微卫星受到的选择压力最大。红尾蚺和原矛头蝮在基因中微卫星丰度分布的位置特征相似,即微卫星在基因上下游500 bp丰度最高,在内含子次之,在外显子最低。红尾蚺和原矛头蝮基因编码区所有6种重复类型微卫星中,三碱基重复类型占绝对优势。红尾蚺和原矛头蝮基因组中含有微卫星的编码序列分别有1 480条和1 397条,被GO注释的分别有736条和733条。它们的GO功能归类结果类似,但是与其他物种相比存在种系差异。本研究结果为后续开发这2种蛇的高质量微卫星标记提供了方便,也为进一步探索这些微卫星在它们基因组中的生物学功能提供了有意义的基础数据。     

利用RNA-seq技术分析棘腹蛙编码区微卫星特征

棘腹蛙Paa boulengeri的遗传研究和基因组信息比较匮乏,致使可有效利用的分子标记非常有限。以棘腹蛙RNA-seq高通量测序数据为基础进行微卫星分子标记的大规模发掘和特征分析,结果显示:在121.6 Mb的棘腹蛙转录组序列中发现微卫星位点3165个,包含于3034条Contig序列中。在筛选到的1~6碱基重复核心的微卫星中,单碱基重复核心的比例最高,之后为三碱基、二碱基、四碱基、六碱基和五碱基重复核心,分别占29.0%、25.2%、21.7%、10.0%、10.0%和3.0%。其中A/T、AC/GT、AGG/CCT、ACAT/ATCT、AAAAT/ATTTT和AAAAAG/CTTTTT分别是单碱基、二碱基、三碱基、四碱基、五碱基、六碱基重复类型中对应的优势重复单元。棘腹蛙编码区微卫星多为重复长度小于24 bp的短序列,长度大于24 bp的微卫星仅占总数的0.92%。对编码区微卫星的侧翼序列分析发现,微卫星侧翼序列的GC含量显著低于转录组整体GC含量,且在含有微卫星上下游侧翼序列的Contig中,71.9%的序列可以设计特异引物扩增出含有微卫星序列的位点。研究结果为棘腹蛙的遗传研究和分子系统地理学研究提供了丰富的序列信息和标记资源。     

鮸鱼EST 序列中微卫星标记的初步筛选及特征分析

为大规模发掘和利用Ⅰ型微卫星标记, 通过建立全长均一化cDNA 文库和随机序列测定, 对鱼鮸转录基因组进行较大规模的微卫星序列特征分析和初步筛选。研究从4609 条高质量ESTs 中筛选到382 条微卫星序列, 筛出率为8.29%, 平均每318 bp 的ESTs 中就有一段不小于14 bp 的微卫星序列。筛选到的微卫星全部在低拷贝区间, 且重复类型丰富, 其中, 二核苷酸和三核苷酸重复类型出现频率较高, 分别占微卫星总序列的37.43%和32.98%。这两种类型的微卫星序列占到所有微卫星序列数目的70.41%, 而每种重复类型中的优势拷贝类型又存在差异, 两核苷酸微卫星中AC 型含量最高, 达到75.4%; 三核苷酸重复的优势重复类型是A、G 组合的基元重复类型(AAG 和AGG), 占三核苷酸类型的44.75%。根据设计的45 对引物的多态检测, 在可以扩增的33 对引物中筛选到9 个多态位点, 多态位点的比例达到20%。这表明黑鮸EST-SSR 中的多态位点比较丰富, 适于进行大规模EST-SSR 多态标记的筛选。以上结果为近缘物种间的微卫星分布频率和丰度的比较、鮸鱼及近缘物种可用Ⅰ型微卫星标记开发等工作提供基础和分析平台。       

基于Solexa高通量测序的唐古特红景天(Rhodiola algida)微卫星信息分析

利用所获得的Solexa高通量唐古特红景天转录组拼接EST序列进行微卫星位点的挖掘分析,期望为红景天属SSR标记的开发提供生物信息学依据。在得到的6552条EST序列中,三碱基最多,占总EST序列的41.50%;单核苷酸和二核苷酸重复类型的SSR含量相似,分别为27.76%和24.76%;二至六碱基微卫星分布密度与其对应的SSR含量成正比。在单核苷酸重复类型中,T和A重复类型最多,分别为总SSR的14.91%、12.70%,而G和C重复类型则很少;在二核苷酸重复类型中,AG重复类型最多,占总SSR的5.60%,GA和TC重复类型次之,分别为4.75%、4.72%;在三核苷酸重复类型中,GAA重复类型最多,为总SSR的1.85%,GAT次之,为1.79%,TTC、TCT、TCA、GGA、GCT、GAG重复类型间的SSR数相差不大;四、五、六核苷酸重复类型则很少。除五、六核苷酸重复类型外,其长度变化与其对应的重复类型碱基长度成反比;同种重复类型中,微卫星的长度与其对应的SSR数成反比。     

Mapping microsatellite markers identified in porcine EST sequences

A sequence search of swine expressed sequence tags (EST) data in GenBank identified over 100 sequence files which contained a microsatellite repeat or simple sequence repeat (SSR). Most of these repeat motifs were dinucleotide (CA/GT) repeats; however, a number of tri-, tetra-, penta- and hexa-nucleotide repeats were also detected. An initial assessment of six dinucleotide and 14 higher-order repeat markers indicated that only dinucleotide markers yielded a sufficient number of informative markers (100% vs. 14% for dinucleotide and higher order repeats, respectively). Primers were designed for an additional 50 di- and one tri-nucleotide SSRs. Overall, 42 markers were polymorphic in the US Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) reference population, 17 markers were uninformative and 12 primer pairs failed to satisfactorily amplify genomic DNA. A comparison of di-nucleotide repeat vs. markers with repeat motifs of three to six bases demonstrated that 72% of dinucleotide markers were informative relative to only 7% of other repeat motifs. The difference was the result of a much higher percentage of monomorphic markers in the three to six base repeat motif markers than in the dinucleotide markers (64% vs. 14%). Either higher order repeat motifs are less polymorphic in the porcine genome or our selection criteria for repeat length of more than 17 contiguous bases was too low. The mapped microsatellite markers add to the porcine genetic map and provide valuable links between the porcine and human genome.     

柑橘EST-SSR分子标记分析

对来源于甜橙（Citrus sinensis Osbeck）、枳壳（Poncirus trifoliata Raf．）和其他柑橘非冗余EST数据库的38124条单-基因（Unigene）序列进行了简单重复序列SSRs（Simple Sequence Repeat）搜索,所分析的柑橘非冗余核酸序列总长23．29Mb,从中获得了8218条SSR,其中包括单碱基重复4913条（59．8％）,2碱基重复1419条（17．3％）,3碱基重复1709条（20．8％）,4碱基重复114条（1．39％）,5碱基重复23条（0．28％）,6碱基重复40条（0．49％）。大约每2．8kb长度的单-基因序列中即存在1个SSR,即平均4．6个单-基因中存在1个SSR。随碱基重复单元（motif）的不同,SSR的最大长度在40-105之间,全部重复序列的平均长度为20．9bp。各种SSR（1-,2-,3-,4-,5-,6-核苷酸重复）的发生频率在甜橙和枳壳间非常接近。其中单碱基重复序列是最丰富的重复单元,其次为3碱基重复。在所得的SSR的重复单元中,富含A碱基的重复单元的分布占据优势地位,出现的频率与密度均较高,而富含CG碱基的重复单元出现频率和密度较低。用25对EST-SSR引物对6个柑橘品种的多样性进行了PCR检测,结果表明,所有25对引物在6个柑橘品种间均扩增到多样性条带,证实通过柑橘EST数据库的发掘能够高效地筛选到基因水平的SSR标记。     

Genome-wide identification and characterization of simple sequence repeat loci in grape phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae

A genome-wide sequence search was conducted to identify simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci in phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, a major grape pest throughout the world. Collectively, 1524 SSR loci containing mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, and hexanucleotide motifs were identified. Among them, trinucleotide repeats were the most abundant in the phylloxera genome (34.4%), followed by hexanucleotide (20.4%) and dinucleotide (19.6%) repeats. Mono-, tetra- and pentanucleotide repeats were found at a frequency of 1.3, 11.2 and 12.9%, respectively. The abundance and inherent variations in SSRs provide valuable information for developing molecular markers. The high levels of allelic variation and codominant features of SSRs make this marker system a useful tool for genotyping, diversity assessment and population genetic studies of reproductive characteristics of phylloxera in agricultural and natural populations.     

Analysis of Microsatellites in Citrus Unigenes

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were investigated in the unigene sequences from expressed sequence tags (EST) of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis osbeck), trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata Raf.) and other citrus species and cultivars. A total of 37 802 citrus unigene sequences corresponding to 23.29 Mb were searched, resulting in the identification of 8 218 SSRs. Among them there were 4 913 (59.8%) mono-, 1 419 (17.3%) di-, 1 709 (20.8%) tri-, 114 (1.39%) tetra-, 23 (0.28%) penta- and 40 (0.49%) hexa-nucleotide SSRs. The estimated frequency of SSRs was approximately 1/2.8 kb, which could be extrapolated to 1 SSR-containing unigene in 4.6 unigenes. The maximum length of the SSR ranged from 40 to 105 bp depending on the repeating numbers of the motif in the SSR. The overall average length of SSRs was 20.9 bp. The frequencies of different SSR types (di-, tri-, tetra-, and penta-nucleotide repeats) were very similar between sweet orange and trifoliate orange. The mononucelotide repeats appeared to be the most abundant SSRs within sweet orange and trifoliate orange, followed by trimeric repeats. The adenine rich repeats such as A/T, AG, AT, AAG, AAAT, AAAG, AAAT, AAAAG, AAAAT etc. were predominant in each type of SSRs (mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, and penta-), whereas the C/G, CG, CCG repeats were less abundant. Twenty-five primer pairs flanking EST-SSR loci were designed to detect the possible polymorphism of six citrus cultivars including sweet orange and trifoliate orange. The PCR result with all these 25 primer pairs revealed the existence of polymorphism within six citrus cultivars confirming that citrus EST database could be efficiently exploited for the development of gene-derived SSR markers.     

Characterization of masson pine (Pinus massoniana Lamb.) microsatellite DNA by 454 genome shotgun sequencing

Microsatellites (simple sequence repeats, SSRs) are important genetic markers in tree breeding and conservation. Here we utilized high-throughput 454 sequencing technology to mine microsatellites from masson pine (MP) genomic DNA. First, we analyzed the characteristics of SSRs in all nonredundant MP reads (genome survey sequences, GSSs) and compared them with loblolly pine (LP) GSSs and BACs (bacterial artificial chromosome clone sequences), and three other nonconiferous species GSSs. Second, a set of MP GSS–SSR primer pairs were designed. There were extremely low overall GSS–SSR densities (28 SSR/Mb) in MP when compared with LP (48 SSR/Mb) and the other species. AT, AAT, AAAT, and AAAAAT were the richest motifs in di-, tri-, tetra-, and hexanucleotides, respectively. Two hundred forty GSS–SSR primer pairs were designed in total, and 20 novel polymorphic markers were identified using three populations (two natural and one clonal seed orchard) as evaluating samples. These markers should be useful for future MP population genetics studies.     

Polymorphic microsatellite loci from an indigenous Asian fungus-growing termite, Macrotermes gilvus (Blattodea: Termitidae) and cross amplification in related taxa

The fungus-growing termite, Macrotermes gilvus (Hagen), an indigenous species from Southeast Asia distributed from Myanmar to Indonesia and the Philippines, offers great potential as an ecological model system to elucidate the effects of geography on gene flow within this region. We used next generation sequencing (Roche 454 pyrosequencing) to identify microsatellite markers from the genomic DNA of M. gilvus. A modest sequencing volume generated 34,122 reads, with 1,212 (3.6%) reads contains microsatellites with di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, and hexa-nucleotide repeat motifs. Thirty-seven loci were selected for primer development and tested for polymorphism across 22 colonies of M. gilvus. Eleven loci were found to be polymorphic with 2-4 alleles per locus. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged between 0.091-0.727 and 0.090-0.540, respectively. Cross taxa amplification was successful across a panel of four related termite species and four multiplex groups were designed for future population genetic studies. These markers will open new avenues for the study of phylogeography and population genetics of this fungus-growing termite. This study also has effectively demonstrated the use of 454 pyrosequencing for the rapid development of informative microsatellite markers from a termite genome.     

Genome-Wide Analysis of Microsatellite Markers Based on Sequenced Database in Chinese Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are distributed across both prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes and have been widely used for genetic studies and molecular marker-assisted breeding in crops. Though an ordered draft sequence of hexaploid bread wheat have been announced, the researches about systemic analysis of SSRs for wheat still have not been reported so far. In the present study, we identified 364,347 SSRs from among 10,603,760 sequences of the Chinese spring wheat (CSW) genome, which were present at a density of 36.68 SSR/Mb. In total, we detected 488 types of motifs ranging from di- to hexanucleotides, among which dinucleotide repeats dominated, accounting for approximately 42.52% of the genome. The density of tri- to hexanucleotide repeats was 24.97%, 4.62%, 3.25% and 24.65%, respectively. AG/CT, AAG/CTT, AGAT/ATCT, AAAAG/CTTTT and AAAATT/AATTTT were the most frequent repeats among di- to hexanucleotide repeats. Among the 21 chromosomes of CSW, the density of repeats was highest on chromosome 2D and lowest on chromosome 3A. The proportions of di-, tri-, tetra-, penta- and hexanucleotide repeats on each chromosome, and even on the whole genome, were almost identical. In addition, 295,267 SSR markers were successfully developed from the 21 chromosomes of CSW, which cover the entire genome at a density of 29.73 per Mb. All of the SSR markers were validated by reverse electronic-Polymerase Chain Reaction (re-PCR); 70,564 (23.9%) were found to be monomorphic and 224,703 (76.1%) were found to be polymorphic. A total of 45 monomorphic markers were selected randomly for validation purposes; 24 (53.3%) amplified one locus, 8 (17.8%) amplified multiple identical loci, and 13 (28.9%) did not amplify any fragments from the genomic DNA of CSW. Then a dendrogram was generated based on the 24 monomorphic SSR markers among 20 wheat cultivars and three species of its diploid ancestors showing that monomorphic SSR markers represented a promising source to increase the number of genetic markers available for the wheat genome. The results of this study will be useful for investigating the genetic diversity and evolution among wheat and related species. At the same time, the results will facilitate comparative genomic studies and marker-assisted breeding (MAS) in plants.     

Map and analysis of microsatellites in the genome of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Populus</Emphasis>: The first sequenced perennial plant

We mapped and analyzed the microsatellites throughout 284295605 base pairs of the unambiguously assembled sequence scaffolds along 19 chromosomes of the haploid poplar genome. Totally, we found 150985 SSRs with repeat unit lengths between 2 and 5 bp. The established microsatellite physical map demonstrated that SSRs were distributed relatively evenly across the genome of Populus. On average, These SSRs occurred every 1883 bp within the poplar genome and the SSR densities in intergenic regions, introns, exons and UTRs were 85.4%, 10.7%, 2.7% and 1.2%, respectively. We took di-, tri-, tetra-and pentamers as the four classes of repeat units and found that the density of each class of SSRs decreased with the repeat unit lengths except for the tetranucleotide repeats. It was noteworthy that the length diversification of microsatellite sequences was negatively correlated with their repeat unit length and the SSRs with shorter repeat units gained repeats faster than the SSRs with longer repeat units. We also found that the GC content of poplar sequence significantly correlated with densities of SSRs with uneven repeat unit lengths (tri-and penta-), but had no significant correlation with densities of SSRs with even repeat unit lengths (di-and tetra-). In poplar genome, there were evidences that the occurrence of different microsatellites was under selection and the GC content in SSR sequences was found to significantly relate to the functional importance of microsatellites.     

Map and analysis of microsatellites in the genome of Populus: The first sequenced perennial plant

Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN, USA We mapped and analyzed the microsatellites throughout 284295605 base pairs of the unambiguously assembled sequence scaffolds along 19 chromosomes of the haploid poplar genome. Totally, we found 150985 SSRs with repeat unit lengths between 2 and 5 bp. The established microsatellite physical map demonstrated tr at SSRs were distributed relatively evenly across the genome of Populus. On average, These SSRs occurred every 1883 bp within the poplar genome and the SSR densities in intergenic regions, introns, exons and UTRs were 85.4%, 10.7%, 2.7% and 1.2%, respectively. We took di-, tri-, tetra-and pentamers as the four classes of repeat units and found that the density of each class of SSRs decreased with the repeat unit lengths except for the tetranucleotide repeats. It was noteworthy that the length diversification of microsatellite sequences was negatively correlated with their repeat unit length and the SSRs with shorter repeat units gained repeats faster than the SSRs with longer repeat units. We also found that the GC content of poplar sequence significantly correlated with densities of SSRs with uneven repeat unit lengths (tri-and penta-), but had no significant correlation with densities of SSRs with even repeat unit lengths (di-and tetra-). In poplar genome, there were evidences that the occurrence of different microsatellites was under selection and the GC content in SSR sequences was found to significantly relate to the functional importance of microsatellites.     

Decreased Rate of Evolution in Y Chromosome STR Loci of Increased Size of the Repeat Unit

Background

Polymorphic Y chromosome short tandem repeats (STRs) have been widely used in population genetic and evolutionary studies. Compared to di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide repeats, STRs with longer repeat units occur more rarely and are far less commonly used.

Principal Findings

In order to study the evolutionary dynamics of STRs according to repeat unit size, we analysed variation at 24 Y chromosome repeat loci: 1 tri-, 14 tetra-, 7 penta-, and 2 hexanucleotide loci. According to our results, penta- and hexanucleotide repeats have approximately two times lower repeat variance and diversity than tri- and tetranucleotide repeats, indicating that their mutation rate is about half of that of tri- and tetranucleotide repeats. Thus, STR markers with longer repeat units are more robust in distinguishing Y chromosome haplogroups and, in some cases, phylogenetic splits within established haplogroups.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that Y chromosome STRs of increased repeat unit size have a lower rate of evolution, which has significant relevance in population genetic and evolutionary studies.