Microsatellites in plants: A new class of molecular markers

The present status of research on microsatellites, also called simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or short tandem repeats (STRs) in higher plants has been reviewed. Results on the occurrence, distribution and the level of polymorphism of different microsatellites examined or searched from DNA sequence databases for different plant materials have been tabulated and briefly described. Information on number of loci for each SSR and the number of alleles at each locus, wherever available, has also been included. Methods used for developing microsatellite markers have been briefly discussed, Achievements made and the future possibilities for the use of microsatellites in areas like selection and diagnostics in segregating populations, genome selection during gene introgression (in backcross programmes), genome mapping, gene tagging, cultivar identification, germplasm characterization, estimation of genetic relatedness, etc, have also been reviewed and critically discussed, The addition of microsatellite markers to the repertoire of other available molecular markers should prove very useful in a variety of research areas involving plant systems.