Credit: Wilfried Guiblet
We have investigated microsatellite evolution in the framework of a life-cycle hypothesis, according to which microsatellites are born and expand into adulthood, until their degradation and death (Kelkar et al. 2011). Studies of microsatellite mutagenesis have significant utility, as microsatellites are implicated in numerous diseases and are popular markers in population genetics and forensics. To commence this project, we had to determine the minimal number of repeats constituting a microsatellite (Kelkar et al. 2010). Next, using sequenced primate genomes, we dissected the intricacies of the mutational processes leading to microsatellite birth and death (Kelkar et al. 2011). We also evaluated the contribution of transposable elements to microsatellite births and deaths, and described the mechanisms of births for many disease-causing microsatellites (Kelkar et al. 2011). We investigated how interruptions affect microsatellite mutability (Ananda et al. 2014) and developed a computational pipeline, STR-FM, to genotype microsatellites from next-generation sequencing data (Fungtammasan, Ananda, et al. 2015). (Figure: Kelkar et al. 2011). Collaborators: Kristin Eckert, Paul Medvedev, Francesca Chiaromonte.
