Is there any known relationship between the structure of a repeated
DNA element such as a VNTR or microsatellite and it's mutation rate?
I am currently compiling some data for a multiple regression and am
interested in such things as:
1) Hyper-mutability under stress to the organism
2) Repeat induced point mutations
3) Total number of tandem copies
4) Compound repeat structures
5) Slippage to mispairing rates
and anything else I can score off of a sequence.
I'm trying to construct a model that will give me an estimate
of the usefullness of a repeat structure (as seen on a sequencing gel)
for a certain range of divergence time that spans as many as five log
units. Ideally, it would be cool to just look at the sequence and calculate
"that one is informative for e.g. between 1 and 10 thousand years because
it has fifteen repeats of 2bp that are not interrupted...."
Data, references, or reasons why I am completely crazy would be greatly
assimilated.
Cheers,
Dan
Daniel J McGoldrick
UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory
PO Box 247
Bodega Bay, Ca. USA
94923
(707) 875 - 2089 Fax me
