HLA Microsatellite Analysis

The human genome contains 50,000–100,000 microsatellite repeats of (CA)_n occurring every 30–60 kb in euchromatic regions of DNA (1 ). Their characteristic length polymorphism is probably due to DNA slippage during replication (2 ). While the normal function of microsatellite loci remains unknown, they have become extremely valuable markers for genetic mapping (3 ,4 ), construction of evolutionary trees (5 ), individual identification in forensic cases (6 ), and relatedness testing (7 ).