Microsatellite repeat sequences

Sequences of 2 to 5 bp repeated up to 50 times such as a TA dinucleotide repeat polymorphism. The variable number of repeats creates the polymorphism. They may occur at 50 - 100 thousand locations in the human genome. Microsatellites mutate faster than nonrepeat polymorphisms and can be used to estimate evolutionary relationships over shorter time scales (see the abstractof a study by Goldstein et al.)