New method to measure minisatellite variant repeat variation in population genetic studies

The classical analysis of minisatellite variant repeat (MVR) variation using modular structures is limited by the lack of knowledge of the mutational process involved in the evolution of most of the minisatellites. In this study a new method to measure MVR variation and to calculate genetic distances using MVR codes is proposed. The method is based on the statistical similarity of MVR patterns and considers the complete variability of the minisatellite, enabling meaningful comparisons of closely related populations. As an example, the method has been applied to analyze variation in MSY1 (DYF155S1) in five sets of data from European and North African populations. (C) 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.