微卫星是以几个碱基（一般为1~6个）为重复单位组成的简单的串联重复序列，具有丰度高、多态性高、共显性标记、选择中性、可自动检测等优点。本文着重介绍了微卫星在种群生物学研究中的应用。微卫星位点可以提供具高分辨率的遗传信息，这一特点使微卫星既适合于个体水平上的研究，又适合于种群水平上的研究。在个体水平上包括个体识别、交配系统和亲本分析、基因流等研究。微卫星是常用的个体识别手段，但在克隆植物遗传结构研究方面的应用还很有限；微卫星提高了交配系统和亲本分析、基因流等研究的准确性。在种群水平上微卫星可用于遗传结构、有效种群大小、种群的系统发育重建等研究。微卫星在很多物种（包括珍稀物种）的遗传结构研究中得到应用；利用微卫星标记确定有效种群大小、检测有效种群大小的波动可以促使我们正确理解种群遗传结构动态和种群进化过程；微卫星在种群的系统发育重建研究方面有很大的应用潜力。然而微卫星并不是研究所有问题的唯一选择。文中还讨论了在实际工作中应如何正确利用分子标记等问题。
Abstract Microsatellites are simple tandemly repeated sequence motifs consisting of repeat units of l-6 bp in length. As genetic markers, they are widely dispersed in eukaryotic genomes. The advantages of microsatellites include high polymorphism, high abundance, codominance, selective neutrality and the possibility of automated detection and scoring. This review emphasizes the applications of microsatellites in population biology, especially in plant populations. The variability of microsatellites loci is often so high that, even with a small number of loci and a large number of individuals, most individuals have unique multilocus genotypes. It is therefore possible to address issues such as discrimination, relationships, structure, relatedness and classification or hierarchy, not only at the individual but also at the population level. Individual identification is critical for molecular studies of clonal plants. Although an efficient approach for individual identification, microsatellites have not so far been widely used in the investigation of clonal structure of plant populations. Several studies on the bur oak populations were cited to show the availability of microsatellites on parentage analyses and processes of gene flow within and among populations. The applications of microsatellites at the population level include genetic structure, effective population size and phylogenetic reconstruction. Genetic structure and diversity have been studied on many species, which include grasses, flowers and trees using microsatellites. Large fluctuations in effective population size usually translate into changes in the level of genetic variability and distribution of‘ allele frequencies. As microsatellite markers can provide nearly infinite loci and can be amplified from even partly degraded DNA, temporal change of genetic structure due to population size can thus be directly accessed. The contribution made by microsatellite makers to infer phylogenetic relationships among populations has been limited. We also discussed the correct use of the different classes or marker.