A. TENEVA1, N. TOMLEKOVA2 and G. GOUJGOULOVA3
1 University of Forestry, BG - 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria
2 Maritsa Vegetable Crops Research Institute, BG - 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
3 National Diagnostic Research Veterinary Medicine Institute, BG - 1134 Sofia, Bulgaria
TENEVA, A., N. TOMLEKOVA and G. GOUJGOULOVA, 2014. Major features, mutation mechanism and development of microsatellites as genetic markers. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 949-956
Recent advances in molecular technologies provide various approaches for DNA polymorphism studies. There are several marker systems used in animal genetic studies, such as SSRs (microsatellites), AFLPs, VN TRs, RAPD, RFLP, mtDNA and Y-chromosome specific markers. Until recently, the microsatellite DNA marker has been the most widely used, due to its easy use by simple PCR and to the high degree of polymorphism and informativeness. Furthermore, microsatellite loci have gained widespread use in genome mapping, phylogenetic and conservation genetics due to their abundance in eukaryotic organisms. Microsatellites have much more information than allozymes and mtDNA. This paper reviews the major features, mutation mechanism, development, advantages and limitations of microsatellites as genetic markers.