Length variations in simple sequence tandem repeats are being given increased attention in plant genetics. Some short tandem repeats (STRs) from a few plant species, mainly those at the dinucleotide level, have been demonstrated to show polymorphisms and Mendelian inheritance. In the study reported here a search for all of the possible STRs ranging from mononucleotide up to tetranucleotide repeats was carried out on EMBL and GenBank DNA sequence databases of 3026 kb nuclear DNA and 1268 kb organelle DNA in 54 and 28 plant species (plus algae), respectively. An extreme rareness of STRs (4 STRs in 1268 kb DNA) was detected in organelle compared with nuclear DNA sequences. In nuclear DNA sequences, (AT)n sequences were the most abundant followed by (A)n · (T)n, (AG)n · (CT)n, (AAT)n · (ATT)n, (AAC)n · (GTT), (AGC)n · (GCT)n, (AAG)n · (CTT)n, (AATT)n · (TTAA)n, (AAAT)n · (ATTT)n and (AC)n · (GT)n sequences. A total of 130 STRs were found, including 49 (AT)n sequences in 31 species, giving an average of 1 STR every 23.3 kb and 1 (AT)n STR every 62 kb. An abundance comparable to that for the dinucleotide repeat was observed for the tri- and tetranucleotide repeats together. On average, there was 1 STR every 64.6 kb DNA in monocotyledons versus 1 every 21.2 kb DNA in dicotyledons. The fraction of STRs that contained G-C basepairs increased as the G+C contents went up from dicotyledons, monocotyledons to algae. While STRs of mono-, di- and tetranucleotide repeats were all located in non coding regions, 57% of the trinucleotide STRs containing G-C basepairs resided in coding regions.

Microsatellites are a ubiquitous class of simple repetitive DNA sequences, which are widespread in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes. The use of microsatellites as polymorphic DNA markers has considerably increased both in the number of studies and in the number of organisms, primarily for genetic mapping, studying genomic instability in cancer, population genetics, forensics, conservation biology, molecular anthropology and in the studies of human evolutionary history. Although simple sequence repeats have been extensively used in studies encompassing varied areas of genetics, the mutation dynamics of these genome regions is still not well understood. The present review focuses on the mutational dynamics of microsatellite DNA with special reference to mutational mechanisms and their role in microsatellite evolution.

Microsatellites can be utilized to explore genotypes, population structure, and other genomic features of eukaryotes. Systematic characterization of microsatellites has not been a focus for several species of Plasmodium, including P. malariae and P. ovale, as the majority of malaria elimination programs are focused on P. falciparum and to a lesser extent P. vivax. Here, five human malaria species (P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale curtisi, and P. knowlesi) were investigated with the aim of conducting in-depth categorization of microsatellites for P. malariae and P. ovale curtisi. Investigation of reference genomes for microsatellites with unit motifs of 1-10 base pairs indicates high diversity among the five Plasmodium species. Plasmodium malariae, with the largest genome size, displays the second highest microsatellite density (1421 No./Mbp; 5% coverage) next to P. falciparum (3634 No./Mbp; 12% coverage). The lowest microsatellite density was observed in P. vivax (773 No./Mbp; 2% coverage). A, AT, and AAT are the most commonly repeated motifs in the Plasmodium species. For P. malariae and P. ovale curtisi, microsatellite-related sequences are observed in approximately 18-29% of coding sequences (CDS). Lysine, asparagine, and glutamic acids are most frequently coded by microsatellite-related CDS. The majority of these CDS could be related to the gene ontology terms "cell parts," "binding," "developmental processes," and "metabolic processes." The present study provides a comprehensive overview of microsatellite distribution and can assist in the planning and development of potentially useful genetic tools for further investigation of P. malariae and P. ovale curtisi epidemiology.© V.B. Mathema et al., published by EDP Sciences, 2020.

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are among the genetic markers most widely utilized in research. This includes applications in numerous fields such as genetic conservation, paternity testing, and molecular breeding. Though ordered draft genome assemblies of camels have been announced, including for the Arabian camel, systemic analysis of camel SSRs is still limited. The identification and development of informative and robust molecular SSR markers are essential for marker assisted breeding programs and paternity testing. Here we searched and compared perfect SSRs with 1–6 bp nucleotide motifs to characterize microsatellites for draft genome sequences of the Camelidae. We analyzed and compared the occurrence, relative abundance, relative density, and guanine-cytosine (GC) content in four taxonomically different camelid species:Camelus dromedarius,C. bactrianus,C. ferus, andVicugna pacos. A total of 546762, 544494, 547974, and 437815 SSRs were mined, respectively. Mononucleotide SSRs were the most frequent in the four genomes, followed in descending order by di-, tetra-, tri-, penta-, and hexanucleotide SSRs. GC content was highest in dinucleotide SSRs and lowest in mononucleotide SSRs. Our results provide further evidence that SSRs are more abundant in noncoding regions than in coding regions. Similar distributions of microsatellites were found in all four species, which indicates that the pattern of microsatellites is conserved in family Camelidae.

转录因子(transcription factors,TFs)可以通过调控基因表达来调节多种生物学过程;目前随着基因组学大数据的不断开发,使得大量TFs基因家族得以鉴定,为TF-SSR标记的开发利用提供了宝贵资源。本研究基于已有的转录组数据,鉴定出箭筈豌豆转录因子282个;并从中设计了208对SSR引物,筛选出35对多态性高、稳定性好和谱带清晰的引物,进一步在30个箭筈豌豆品种中共扩增到288个等位基因;平均每个标记可产生8.23个等位基因,多态性比率(PPB)均为100%,多态信息含量(PIC)范围为0.42~1.00,平均值为0.80。另外,从35对引物中筛选出具备多个品种特征谱带的核心引物6对,可将供试的30个箭筈豌豆品种完全分开。同时,基于6对核心引物构建了箭筈豌豆品种测试的指纹图谱,可为箭筈豌豆DUS(特异性、一致性、稳定性)测试、新品种保护,以及遗传背景分析提供技术依据。

植物组织中含有大量多糖、多酚、酯类等次生代谢产物, 要从中提取高质量的DNA比较困难。针对这一情况, 该文提出一种改良CTAB植物DNA提取方法(mCTAB), 并以10种常见植物为实验材料, 与4种常用的植物DNA提取试剂盒作对比。结果表明, mCTAB法提取的DNA产率高且质量好, PCR扩增成功率也较高, 而提取成本显著低于DNA提取试剂盒, 可有效用于植物DNA条形码等研究的植物DNA提取。

【目的】普通烟草（N. tabacum ，2n=24Ⅱ=48 TTSS）及其2个祖先种-绒毛状烟草（N. tomentosoformis，2n=12Ⅱ=24 TT）和林烟草（N.sylvestris，2n=12Ⅱ=24 SS）基因组SSR位点信息的统计分析，有助于烟草属植物的遗传分析。【方法】从公共数据库NCBI（National Center for Biotechnology Information）中下载上述3个烟草基因组数据，应用SSRIT和TRF软件分析其各自SSR位点分布特征，每个基因组随机合成50对SSR引物扩增多态性。【结果】在绒毛状烟草基因组、林烟草基因组和普通烟草基因组中分别获得218 081、263 478和397 432个SSR总位点，其间的平均距离分别为7.52、7.78和9.06 kb。绝大部分的SSR位点分布在内含子和UTR（尤其是5′-UTR）区域；以2核苷酸和3核苷酸类型为主，占基因组内SSR位点总数目的2/3以上，其中，2核苷酸类型丰度最高；含有A(T)_n基序结构的频率及数量最高；除单核苷酸类型外，重复次数多在3—10。150对合成的引物对8个烟草种DNAs进行PCR反应，所有材料均能扩增出清晰稳定的目标片段，其中36对引物显示多态性。【结论】绒毛状烟草、林烟草和普通烟草基因组内SSR呈现一定的分布特征，表明SSR位点在亲缘关系相对较近的烟草种间具有高度保守性。

【目的】通过对四倍体野生种花生Arachis monticola（AABB,2n = 4x = 40）全基因组SSR位点搜索,研究其全基因组SSR分布特征及规律,开发并验证其全基因组SSR引物,为花生属植物遗传进化分析及重要性状分子标记开发提供依据。【方法】在华大基因GigaScience数据库下载A.monticola全基因组序列,并利用生物信息学软件MISA进行SSR位点搜索,Primer 3进行引物设计,通过电子PCR进行单位点SSR分析,并随机合成100对SSR引物验证通用性。【结果】SSR在四倍体野生种花生A.monticola基因组上共搜索到SSR位点676 878个,平均每3.8 kb就会出现一个SSR,分布于5 127条scaffold中,单核苷酸至六核苷酸均有分布,且数量上差异较大,以单碱基、二碱基、三碱基为主,三者占SSR总数的94.28%,其中单碱基重复数量最多,占46.71％,密度最高;六核苷酸重复数目最少,分布最稀疏。大多数SSR分布在基因间区,基因区SSR多分布于内含子区域;全基因组共鉴定出395个不同的重复基元,其中A亚基因组342种,B亚基因组356种;A/T是最丰富的重复基元;在1—6个核苷酸的重复基元中,数量最多的依次是A/T、AT/AT、AAT/ATT,AAAT/ATTT、AAAAT/ATTTT、AAAAAT/ATTTTT;整体来看,重复基元的重复次数多集中在50次以内,不同类型的motif的重复次数差异很大;同一种类型重复基元的SSR位点,随着motif重复次数增加,SSR的数量逐渐降低;B03染色体上SSR数量最多,A08染色体中SSR密度最高。A.monticola全基因组SSR比A.duranensis、A.ipaensis基因组SSR数量多,密度也更高,A.monticola单核苷酸重复最丰富,2个野生种二核苷酸数量最多。共设计出SSR引物192 303对,单位点SSR标记检出率50.35%,单点SSR标记在基因组上的分布呈现两端密集,中间稀疏的特点;随机合成的100对引物中,90对能在A. monticola中扩增出稳定清晰的条带,且在4份不同的花生基因组DNA中扩增目的条带表现出不同的特点。【结论】A.monticola基因组内SSR种类和数量丰富,单核苷酸至六核苷酸均有分布,单核苷酸重复基元数量最多,且最密,六核苷酸重复基元数量最少,出现频率最低,不同重复基元频数高低与核苷酸数量没有严格相关性,SSR多分布在基因间区,基因区内含子区域SSR数量最多;A.monticola A、B亚基因组具有其各自特异的重复基元类型;单个类型重复基元数量最多的均为AT富集的重复基元,而GC富集的重复基元相对较少;同一种类型重复基元的SSR位点,随着motif重复次数增加,SSR的数量逐渐降低;A.monticola全基因组SSR较2个二倍体野生种数量更多,密度也更高且重复基元分布规律不同;经过初步验证,开发的SSR引物在4份花生材料中表现出部分通用性。