Microsatellites evolve more rapidly in humans than in chimpanzees.
Microsatellites are highly polymorphic markers consisting of varying numbers of tandem repeats. At different loci, these repeats can consist of one to five nucleotides. Microsatellites have been used in many fields of genetics, including genetic mapping, linkage disequilibrium analyses, forensic studies, and population genetics. It is important that we understand their mutational processes better so that they can be exploited optimally for studies of human diversity and evolutionary genetics. We have analyzed 24 microsatellite loci in chimpanzees, East Anglians, and Sub-Saharan Africans. The stepwise-weighted genetic distances between the humans and the chimpanzees and between the two human populations were calculated according to the method described by Deka et al. (1994, Genomics 22, 226-230). The ratio of the genetic distances between the chimpanzees and the humans relative to that between the Africans and the East Anglians was more than 10 times smaller than expected. This suggests that microsatellites have evolved more rapidly in humans than in chimpanzees.
Rubinsztein
D C
DC
East Anglian Regional Genetics Service Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Addenbrooke's NHS Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Leggo
J
J
Amos
W
W
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics