sY116, a human Y-linked polymorphic STS

During a study of deletions of Y-chromosomal DNA in infertile males, sY116, a Y-linked STS, showed different electrophoretic mobilities in three males, two infertile and one fertile. A study of this STS among 35 other normal males showed that this locus is polymorphic. sY116 has a polyA-rich stretch whose instability appears to be the most likely cause of this polymorphism. The possible usefulness of sY116 polymorphism in the detection of subtle genome-wide instabilities in some types of cancer is discussed.