Polymers of random short oligonucleotides detect polymorphic loci in the human genome

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Abstract
Polymers of random 14 mer oligonucleotides are shown to detect discrete loci in the human genome. Eighteen different synthetic tandem repeats of random 14 base-pair units (STRs) have been generated and all of them turn out to detect polymorphic loci on southern blots of human DNA samples, presumably corresponding to a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR). This finding suggests that minisatellites are a major component of the human genome and are strongly associated with the generation of genetic variability. In addition, it should open new strategies to make new polymorphic probes available.