The Complete Guide for Short

Tandem Repeats and Its

Implementation Importance
Edit by:
Creative Bioarray
Shirley, NY,USA
 Table of Content
1.Brief Introduction for Short Tandem Repeats
2.The Causes of STR
3.STR Detection Method
4.The Importance of STR Analysis
5.Conclusion
 Brief Introduction for Short
Tandem Repeats
Microsatellite DNA, also known as short tandem repeats (STR) or simple repeat
sequences (SRS or SSR), is widely found in prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes,
consisting of a unit of two to thirteen nucleotides repeated hundreds of times
in a row on the DNA strand which is about 5% of the eukaryotic genome, the
basic unit (core sequence) is 1-6bp. The most common of these is (CA) n and
(TG) n, and the human genome has about 5 104 ~ 1 105 (CA) n repeats
which take 10% of the genome. Each microsatellite DNA has the same core
sequence structure, the number of repeating units is about 10 to 60 times, and
its length is generally not more than 300bp, mostly located in the non-coding
region of the gene, intron or untranslated region. which may be present in the
Alu sequence or Satellite sequence, but in the coding sequence and exon also
can find the presence of microsatellite DNA.
The high polymorphism of microsatellite DNA is mainly due to the difference in
the number of tandem numbers. There is a big difference of the distribution
for microsatellite DNA in different races and populations due to the number of
repeat units and repetition, which constituted STR genetic polymorphism. And
the number of repetitions between different individuals at a homologous STR
site is also different so that STR loci analysis can identify individuals that are
similar to fingerprint recognition. It is possible to create a personal gene file by
identifying a specific sequence of genomes at particular loci. Currently, there
are more than 10,000 STR loci are available. STR analysis has become an
important analytical method for individual identification and paternity testing
in the field of forensic science. It can be applied to judicial case investigation,
that is, genetic fingerprint analysis.
 The Causes of STR
The replication slip caused by mismatches between DNA strands during
the mitotic process is considered to be the most common cause of the
occurrence of STR, and in general, there will be an average of one-
thousandths of microsatellite DNA will undergo replication slippage. The
study showed that the rate of tandem duplication at repeat sequences
was higher than the probability of point mutations occurring elsewhere
in the genome. Most of the replication slides only cause a change in the
repeat unit, and the probability of replication slip is different due to the
size of the different copy units and different species.
 STR Detection Method
STR analysis is one of the most useful methods in molecular biology
which is used to compare specific loci on DNA from two or more
samples. There are two common methods for STR detection: capillary
electrophoresis (CE) and gel electrophoresis, which can be used to
determine the specific amount of microbes Satellite sequence and draw
the STR map. Typically, each allele is shared by about 5-20% of people.
And the advantages of STR analysis will be reflected in the simultaneous
identification of multiple STR loci. Each individual can be identified
accurately by the resulting STR map. In theory, if there were 16 STR loci
being used in combination, the recognition rate will be 0.999999999998.
 The Importance of STR Analysis
It is still common for cell lines to be misidentified and cross-contamination,
although scientists use a variety of traditional methods to identify cells, there
are still dozens of cross-contamination happened. And even some researchers
found that cell lines were misidentified or cross-contamination while cell
identification reports for the higher score study articles publication, resulting in
erroneous conclusions. All of which will lead to the waste of research funding
and time, and resulting in a large number of invalid or erroneous data that will
mislead other researchers. Based on the statistics data, around 20% of the cell
lines were misidentified and cross-contamination in the labs so that it is a
serious concern for researchers to provide accurate cell line identification and
prevent cell lines from cross-contamination. Currently, several STR loci have
been developed to analyze cross-contamination and cell types at the same
time, that can detect up to 0.1 ng of DNA (about 15 Diploid genomes) with
high sensitivity for the trace pollution.
 Conclusion
All the mentioned above is the complete guide for the Short Tandem
Repeat and its importance!
 Contact Information
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URL: http://www.creative-bioarray.com/Services/Short-Tandem-Repeat-
Analysis.htm