Microsatellite Analysis in Plasmodium falciparum

Microsatellites (MS) are simple sequence repeats (SSRs) such as (CA)_n , (TAA)_n , or (TA)_n that have been found in all eukaryotes studied (1 -3 ). The number of repeated nucleotides per unit is generally limited to between 1 and 5, in contrast to the longer repeats characteristic of minisatellites. Whereas (CA)_n and (GT)_n are the most abundant repeats in mammals, (TA)_n and (TAA)_n are the most common SSRs in plants (4 ). Similar to many plants, the genome of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum , is rich in A-T SSRs, particularly (TA)_n and (TAA)_n (5 ).