minisatelliten.
/ˌmɪnɪˈsatəlʌɪt/, /ˌmɪnɪˈsatl̩ʌɪt/, U.S. /ˈˌmɪniˈˌsædlˌaɪt/ Genetics.
Any segment of DNA consisting of a short sequence of nucleotides (typically 10 to 60 base pairs) repeated several to many times. Cf. microsatellite n. 1, satellite n. 10. Frequently attributive.Extreme variability in the overall length (number of repeats) of minisatellites provides the basis for DNA fingerprinting in animals and plants.
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1985 A. J. Jeffreys et al. in Nature 7 Mar. 67/1 We have described previously a short minisatellite comprised of four tandem repeats of a 33-base pair (bp) sequence in an intron of the human myoglobin gene.
1990 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 77 883/2 Some probes also have detected minisatellite variation in several animal and plant species.
1996 Guardian 25 Apr. 12/5 These ‘mini-satellite’ regions of DNA do not seem to be biologically important.
2000 Molecular Ecol. 9 723 We report the use of minisatellite DNA profiling to reveal the mating system in two New Zealand populations of the introduced Australian brushtail possum.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1985