Analysis of Simple Sequence Repeats in Genomes of Rhizobia

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites, as genetic markers, are ubiquitous in genomes of various organisms. The analysis of SSR in rhizobia genome provides useful information for a variety of applications in population genetics of rhizobia. We analyzed the occurrences, relative abundance, and relative density of SSRs, the most common in Bradyrhizobium japonicum, Mesorhizobium loti, and Sinorhizobium meliloti genomes sequenced in the microorganisms tandem repeats database, and SSRs in the three species genomes were compared with each other. The result showed that there were 1 410, 859, and 638 SSRs in B. japonicum, M. loti, and S. meliloti genomes, respectively. In the genomes of B. japonicum, M. loti, and S. meliloti, tetranucleotide, pentanucleotide, and hexanucleotide repeats were more abundant and indicated higher mutation rates in these species. The least abundance was mononucleotide repeat. The SSRs type and distribution were similar among these species.