Short synthetic oligonucleotide repeats detect human genomic variation.

We used synthetic oligonucleotide DNA probes specific for the four-base repetitive core sequences (GACA)n and (AGGC)n to examine human genomic variation. The results of hybridizing these oligonucleotides to human genomic digests indicate that they are useful and accessible markers for ubiquitously repeated regions of DNA in the human genome. Furthermore, these sequences appear to be highly conserved in eukaryotic genomes, but their function remains largely unknown.