Alu elements are primate specific SINEs that have reached a copy number in excess of one million in the human genome, which makes these markers highly sensitive and desirable for forensic samples with extremely degraded DNA.
This is a confirmation of the effect of the marker-trait association and makes these markers important candidate genes for further study.
Furthermore, having single copy PCR products between 90 and 250 bases in length allow an easy detection of microsatellite alleles on polyacrylamide gels, which makes these markers ideal for medium sized laboratories interested in genetic mapping.
Although chloroplast markers have been effectively used in studying plant distributions, low effective population size in chloroplast DNA and reduced genetic diversity as compared with nuclear DNA makes these markers less suitable for studying recently established populations.
However, the advantage of high cross-transferability with EST derived SSRs, and in many cases the greater stability of scoring [ 33], makes these markers highly suitable for our Hawaiian mint research.
These characteristics could make these markers useful tools in quantifying the degree of alteration of bone remodelling in the presence of bone metastases.
Their properties are highly prevalent in EST-derived SSRs, making these markers particularly useful, as shown for Theobroma[ 11], Silena[ 12], Prunus[ 13], Dactylis[ 14] and Citrus[ 15].
Conserved chromosome locations, together with strong selection criteria (including similar molecular weight range to the donor species and conserved locus stuttering patterns) make these markers' transferability robust enough for their practical application.
Changes in methylation occur early in carcinogenesis, appear to be stable, and can be feasibly detected in both stool and blood-based samples, making these markers ideal candidates for a noninvasive test for early detection of CRC.
The properties of high polymorphism within and across populations, low frequency of null alleles, neutrality, and high cross-species transferability make these markers highly valuable for population genomic, comparative genomic, and genome-wide association studies.
The high levels of allelic variation, codominant inheritance, and ease of analysis have made these markers attractive for population genetics, genome mapping, pedigree studies, and forensic analyses (Wright and Bentzen, 1994; Ellegren, 2000).
